Metropolis
by MetalGeneral
Summary: The seven needles were pulled by Lucas, and the world should have been fixed, but that's not what happened. Dimensions collided and everyone finds themselves fighting in a world taken over by King P. When Ninten is mistaken for Ness and captured by Porky, he finds himself stuck with the emotionless Pigmask commander. Can a bond between the two save their dying planet? Clausten.
1. Prologue American Mishaps

Lucas had pulled the final needle, so everything should have been okay. Lucas had pulled the final needle, and so the world should have been reborn. Lucas had pulled the final needle, and all that was wrong should have been righted.

But none of those things happened.

Perhaps no one will ever know what went wrong. The Masked Man's influence may have been more powerful than anyone anticipated. Maybe there had been a failsafe in place, one not even the Magypsies with all of their knowledge could have foreseen. One might even say that King P had power that stretched far beyond his Absolutely Safe Capsule. No one knows, and now that which has been written over might never be remembered. All that has been rewritten is the new reality, and nothing can be done. Maybe, just maybe, this is how the Dark Dragon meant for things to be solved.

Ninten took five steps outside of his house and decided that he was far too tired to deal with any of this. Honestly, he always felt too tired to deal with anything, insomnia did that to you, but he felt especially unmotivated today. Podunk was pouring rain, Ana was telling him some news about the fall of Snowman, and apparently King P was closing in on some rebel kid's location over in Eagleland or Chommo or one of those other regions.

Ana was attentive, always calling around and checking every newsstand in and around Podunk, Merrysville, and Snowman. Ninten was, well, not quite so attentive. All of it merely depressed him. He found himself spending more time hiding over at Lloyd's house than actually doing anything about the situation.

The Pigmask Army had been steadily moving their way across America, having long taken over Eagleland, Chommo, and Foggy Land. The Nowhere Islands, being the army's main base of operations for the past six years now, were beyond saving. As far as Ninten was aware, America was the only country in the world that hadn't been lost to them yet, but that was making a change.

People suspected that the Pigmasks had started with Youngtown, as all of its residents had gone missing weeks before the army showed itself, but no one knew for sure. What they did know was that Ellay had been the first to visibly be invaded. The town had been seen as the most suitable for the Pigmasks' American base of operations, and much of the populace had been quickly brainwashed, while nearly all of the wildlife had been caught and turned into chimeras.

This obviously didn't stop Teddy and the Bla-Bla Gang from fighting against them. Even now, Ana would occasionally pick up news about Teddy and the gang taking out troops or a facility there.

No matter how hard they fought, Ninten never saw any change in Ellay's situation.

Merrysville had been attacked some months ago, and though the Pigmasks had failed to take over due to the combined efforts of Ninten and his friends, Lloyd and his family chose to move to Podunk. Various attacks had been made on nearly every town and city in America, and yet for some reason Podunk hadn't been touched. No one knew quite why the Pigmasks avoided it, but the town's population had been growing in the past year, people moving there in droves looking for safety. It looked like Ana would be next to join that group, having finally lost her hometown of Snowman to the invading army.

"They're already creating and releasing chimeras as we speak," she told him, fiddling with the handle of the umbrella in her hands. Though she appeared calm, Ninten could see how red and puffy her eyes were. "I'm not even sure where my mom is. I think the Pigmasks got ahold of her." Ana paused, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "I don't want my mom to become like the others."

Ninten understood. He'd been hearing of the devastation wrought by the Pigmasks: the brainwashing, the experiments, and the unhealthy increase in industrialism. Teddy himself had suffered firsthand from the Pigmasks, believing his parents to have been killed by one of their chimeras; losing Ellay and its people to their brainwashing. Despite Teddy's best efforts, Ninten knew the army was going to continue its spread. It would inevitably reach Podunk, even if seemingly no attempts had been made yet.

Somehow, he found himself apathetic to it all, but he had close friends who cared deeply about what was happening to America. Apathetic as he was, he would still put in the effort to help those he loved.

So he took Ana, his on-again off-again girlfriend, into his home and offered her a place to stay while they figured out what to do about Snowman. He grabbed his home phone and called Lloyd over, telling him to bring his drones with him. If they couldn't find Ana's mother using the drones, they could at least determine if moving the rest of Ana's belongings over to Ninten's was feasible.

"They've been getting braver," Ana muttered, hugging her legs to herself as she sat on the couch. "They haven't tried a full-scale invasion since they took Ellay. It has to be that rebel boy, the same one who got Onett put on lockdown. They announced that they think they've found him, so they must think there's nothing else to worry about here in America."

"So, they thought he could have been hiding here?" Lloyd asked, putting the finishing touches on his drones. They'd been damaged a few days ago when Teddy asked to borrow them for scouting in Ellay. When they'd been returned to Lloyd more-or-less destroyed, the poor kid had nearly fainted. "Why wouldn't they have been trying harder to invade all of the towns here then?"

"They're scared of this kid. He's been giving them hell for how many years now?" Ninten interjected.

"Ever since they moved from Nowhere and into Eagleland, I think," Ana replied, hand to her chin as she glanced upwards. "So, maybe about a year after they took over Nowhere?"

"Yeah, so going on five years now," Ninten finished. "They're going to be cautious with this kid and try to take him by surprise, so they need to be subtle, you know? Just attack willy-nilly and this kid might show up and take _them_ by surprise. He's gotta be pretty damn strong."

"It sure sounds like it," Lloyd replied, adjusting his glasses and wiping sweat from his brow. "Did they ever say what this kid's name is?"

Ana sighed, slight annoyance crossing her features. "No, the Pigmasks have been way too secretive about him. I can't find any sources that even describe what he looks like, let alone his name."

"Might be helpful to know if he _is_ the reason the Pigmasks are starting to get bolder now," Ninten cut in. "Where did they say they found him again?"

"Chommo, I think?" Ana shrugged.

"Doesn't sound like there's much we can do about it, then," Lloyd responded, tinkering with the controls for his drones. One began to emit sparks, causing him to grumble and turn it off. "Remind me to never cave in again if Teddy wants something from me."

"Yeah, sure. I've never seen you say no to him before," Ninten snarked at him.

"Well, he's really intimidating! But you're _more_ intimidating, Ninten, he said so himself!"

"Dude's like six years older than me and twice my size. I'm just a tall, lanky stick next to him."

Ana snorted at that, giving off the first smile Ninten had seen since she showed up with the news about Snowman. "He challenges you to a fight every other month and you win each time. That's not much of an excuse, Ninten." Ignoring Ninten's grumbled _yeah whatever_, Ana continued on, "Lloyd, is it only that one drone acting up? We'll be fine with just the two."

"Well, it'd be nice if I could get all three working. Then we could each use one."

"It would be nice if I could go out and find my mom instead of sitting around here," Ana suddenly snapped back. Ninten could tell she wanted to go on, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry, Lloyd," she murmured after collecting herself. "Just, can we please go out and use the two working drones?"

Lloyd nodded, nervous after Ana's little outburst. "Yeah, we can do that. It's fine."

Had Ninten the same amount of tact he had back when he was still twelve and first hearing about the Pigmasks, he might have called Lloyd out on his lie. It was obvious he was shaken by the few words Ana had spoken in anger. Ana was not one for anger, and certainly was not one for taking it out on her friends. It didn't help that Lloyd was sensitive to these issues; he couldn't handle aggression as well as most other people, hence why he was such a popular target for Teddy's bullying.

Ninten had grown these past six years though, and not just in tact. He knew when to keep silent and to not speak his mind. His mother and sisters often told him he was too quiet now. Almost isolating himself. Most people told his family that he was suffering from depression over the Pigmask army's nearly worldwide invasion, and maybe that was so, but he didn't fully agree.

("I think I'd still be like this even if the Pigmasks had never shown up," he once told Ana while they were sitting on a hill overlooking Mt. Itoi. Stars spanned across the night sky, twinkling over them, and he remembered Minnie's shock when she had caught him leaving to see Ana at such a late hour.

"Why is that?" Ana had asked, leaning against him and resting her head against his shoulder. It was one of those 'on again' situations, shortly before their latest breakup.

"I just, I don't know," Ninten shrugged, staring hard at the mountainside. "But every now and then I look over at Mt. Itoi and think about everything that's happened, and it all feels so familiar."

Ana had giggled, interlocking their fingers together in the grass. "Wouldn't that just be déjà vu? Why does that mean you'd still be so quiet now?"

That brought Ninten pause, as he hadn't been sure of how to explain it at the time. "Well, if this were any other time, or any other place, I think something would have happened to make me this way anyways. I don't think I would have ever gotten the chance to keep being some hotheaded, energetic kid. Does that make any sense?"

Ana pondered it, glancing upwards with her lips pursed as she so often did. She made a soft hum, and brought her eyes back to the grass they were sitting on. "I guess, but you're kind of thinking about this too hard, don't you think?"

"Yeah, maybe," Ninten admitted, and left the conversation there. He couldn't properly explain it, and maybe he never would be able to.)

They had all grown a lot since the Pigmasks showed up, it wasn't just Ninten, but he figured that was just how life was. They weren't twelve anymore, so what did their families expect? Everyone in the world was being directly affected by the Pigmasks, and Ninten's friends could and _would_ do something about it. They might not be so successful, and Ninten might no longer see the point of it, but he was still always one step behind them all.

So some hours passed and the three found themselves hiding on the outskirts of Snowman. After a short debate earlier, they had decided that calling Teddy over to help out would be best. None of them knew what stage of the invasion Snowman would be in, and they agreed that some extra muscle might be needed. Teddy told them he didn't know how long it would take him to reach Snowman, but he would do his best to make it. Until then, they chose to remain hidden and let the drones scout for them.

The rain had trickled down to a light drizzle, not quite enough to soak their clothes. Dusk was approaching and the sun was quickly setting, but the darkness would merely help to keep them hidden. Ana had asked repeatedly if Lloyd was sure the drones' night vision still worked, to which Ninten could tell he tried not to make any sarcastic remarks about. The boys both knew how worried Ana was about her mother, and having so much time already pass didn't help. There was no reason to make Ana's situation any worse by snapping at her.

Still, Ninten could see how tense they both were. Ana was worked up and far too close to the issue to be much help. Lloyd was anxious and stressed, perhaps over both Ana's situation and the thought that this could happen to Merrysville and Podunk as well. For some reason, they were the two running the drones. Understandable, considering Lloyd was protective of his equipment (especially now after the damage Teddy had caused), and Ana wanted to be involved in any way she could.

They sent the drones through every nook and cranny of Snowman over the course of an hour, yet there was nothing. Ninten analyzed the drones' footage carefully, but it appeared that Snowman's transformation had been completed. Sure, the town hadn't been expanded upon or given far larger, fancier buildings yet, but the people on the streets acted just like those in Ellay.

"They already did all of their brainwashing? How could they have done this so quickly?" Lloyd murmured under his breath. Beside him, Ninten had to rub Ana's back and remind her to let loose the breath she herself was holding.

What Lloyd had said was true. The people went on as though they always lived this way. Accepting the different technology the Pigmask footmen were delivering to them by the masses. They were praising King P, giving out any information they could about America's other towns and cities, and condemning those who tried to fight the situation. Pigmasks wandered about casually, picking up creatures, objects, and people without question.

Ana's mother was nowhere in sight. In fact, her home was void of life when Ana had brought a drone over to check the place out.

"I…I need to go in there," Ana stammered. "She's not around, what if they did something to her?"

"The worst they could do is brainwash her, and Teddy was able to break the brainwashing on a couple of his gang members and some other people. Maybe she'll show up tomorrow?" Lloyd tried to comfort her, but Ninten knew it didn't make a difference. Ana's breathing was becoming irregular and he could just barely see how glassy her eyes were getting in the dim light.

"But what if they're experimenting on her? Like, turning her into a chimera?" Ana sniffled, setting her drone's controls down and wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.

"That shouldn't be a problem since they've never turned a human into a chimera before. We would have known by now," Ninten tried to reassure, hoping Ana couldn't tell he was bluffing. If anyone were to know about human chimeras, it definitely wouldn't be Mr. 'hide away and ignore the issue' Ninten.

A few more sniffles came from Ana before she leaned against Ninten's side. "Yeah, you might be right, but what if they've started?"

"I'm not gonna to say it's going to be fine, but we'll figure it out when—"

A deafening crash of lighting struck the area between the three of them, and instantly Ninten's world was engulfed in blinding agony. He could hear Ana's screams and Lloyd crying out, and he could feel himself convulsing on the floor from the force of the PK Thunder they'd all been hit by.

Just before he blacked out, Ninten heard an emotionless, almost robotic voice speak from behind him:

"Target has been apprehended. Returning to Master Porky with him now."


	2. Over in Foggy Land Welcome to New Pork

_TERROR OF ONETT FINALLY CAPTURED: Rebel leader from Eagleland found and apprehended outside Snowman, America last night. Reign of King P secured again._

The newspaper had been sitting out on the kitchen table when Ness arrived home from scouting that afternoon, displaying the baffling article on its front page.

Ness was the Terror of Onett. The so-called 'rebel leader' from Eagleland. He was also hiding out in a small apartment complex near Snow Wood Boarding School in Winters, Foggy Land, courtesy of two students renting a unit there. He could safely say that he was _far_ from being captured in America.

Who on Earth had Porky's men thought they'd caught?

"It's a joke, right?" Ness gave a nervous laugh, trying to play it off. "Porky's just messing with me."

Paula snorted from where she sat, reading a book on the nearby couch. Jeff merely scoffed and took off his glasses so he could wipe away a particularly stubborn smudge on their lenses.

"Yeah, I'd say he's messing with you, alright. More like trying to get your guard down so you foolishly reveal yourself to him," Jeff responded, putting his glasses up to his face and then muttering when he still saw the smudge there.

"Do you need me to get some cleaner?" Tony asked in passing, to which Jeff waved him off. Never one to push, Tony took a seat next to Paula and glanced warily into the kitchen where Ness and Jeff remained.

"It's a pretty stupid plan if that's the case," Ness continued on, staring hard at the newspaper article. "Even if the Pigmasks do have the wrong guy, they'll figure out it's not me sooner or later."

"Porky will take one look at him and make that little grumbly sound he used to make whenever he was pissed," Paula chuckled, reminiscing about something Ness didn't know she had knowledge of.

At this point, Ness didn't bother questioning the strange comments his girlfriend made anymore.

It happened all of the time, especially back when they first met around five years ago. The Pigmask army had just taken over Fourside and made it their main base of operations in Eagleland, and Porky was sending men left and right to put Onett on permanent lockdown. It had been a long, hard set of months; months that ended with Ness on the run and escaping to Twoson.

("Just go!" Tracy had screamed at him. Picky was behind her crying as the three of them stood on the outskirts of Onett's surrounding forests. "Whatever Porky did, we can't get out of here, but _you_ can! Just go get help!")

Those weren't memories Ness wanted to relive, and he quashed them back down, needing to forget them again.

He had met and rescued Paula from the Happy Happyism cult shortly afterwards, finding out that Porky was looking to round up any and all PSI users he could find for his army (Ness wondered if that had to do with him, too. Porky had made it clear from day one he wanted his childhood friend captured and dealt with). The two of them had bonded and spent the next couple years fighting for Eagleland and trying to take the Pigmasks down from the inside.

Ness never found a way to save Onett from its fate. Chommo and Foggy Land were falling to the Pigmasks' spread. Eagleland had become overrun to the point where it was no longer safe to remain there.

Three years into Ness and Paula's war against the Pigmasks, and it landed them in Threed, captured and begging for help from someone they had never met.

("I know a boy who can help us," Paula had stated. "I've never met him, but I can still reach him if I were to pray now.")

_I know a boy who can help us. I've never met him,_ and yet Paula had acted almost as if she had known Jeff for years when the boy came to save them. Much of how she acted tended to lean towards the bizarre, and she made plenty more strange comments to cement Ness's confusion:

_Someone else is supposed to be here with us, don't you think?_

_Porky was always dabbling with powers that should never be awakened._

_Some chimeras remind me so much of those aliens. Remember the Starmen?_

She would make these comments in passing, then pause and give him a look of confusion. _Gee, Paula, I don't know. How can I remember these star dudes when you clearly don't remember them either?_ Ness sometimes wanted to joke back.

But that was just how it was, and neither of them questioned it anymore. Paula would do something that baffled them both, and they would immediately ignore it and move on. Jeff of course took it in stride, attributing it to the other weird quirks his new friends had.

"Still," Paula went on, drawing Ness from his thoughts, "I'll feel bad if this isn't some trick and Porky actually captured someone. No one else should have to go through that because of us."

"I agree with Jeff, though," Tony butted in, glancing between Jeff and Paula. "It has to be a trap. You guys should watch it for the next couple of weeks until we get more news."

"Well, yeah," Ness nearly laughed. "I haven't spent five years on the run just to get caught over a newspaper article."

That was the gist of it, wasn't it? Ness and Paula were on the run. They were putting Jeff and Tony in danger by hiding out in their apartment, and they were making next to no difference in the Pigmask epidemic. They spent far too much time on the defensive, and while having Jeff around to analyze the Pigmask technology was nice, it wasn't enough.

("It's still a shame your dad went missing so long ago. This tech really resembles some of his work."

Ness once heard Tony tell this to Jeff as the two dissected a mechanical chimera.

"I'm not going to talk about Dr. Andonuts," was the short reply from Jeff, and the conversation ended just like that.)

Despite their newfound friendship, Jeff was still closed off to Ness and Paula. Ness always noticed it late at night, hearing the two students' hushed whispers through the thin apartment walls. There were things Jeff speculated on that he only told Tony; things Ness only knew about by eavesdropping when he should have been asleep.

Jeff's father was the renowned scientist, Dr. Andonuts. The man had worked diligently his whole life to create new and groundbreaking technology, going so far as to work with the Mr. Saturns to help him.

He'd made a chimera before. No one was supposed to know, but Jeff had broken into his father's lab and found the files about Dungeon Man. The technology used by the Pigmasks and the chimeras all resembled Dr. Andonuts' work far too well, and Jeff was smart enough to put two and two together. He would tell Tony that he thought Dr. Andonuts was aiding Porky solely to advance his research. Tony wanted Jeff to give his father the benefit of the doubt, but Jeff always remained silent to the other boy's pleas.

Something was wrong between Jeff and his father, but Ness knew better than to pry.

"What should we do if it turns out Porky actually captured someone?" Paula asked, persistent on the matter.

"What can we do? It would be suicide to storm wherever the guy might be held," Jeff answered. "Until we get more answers and know exactly what we're dealing with, we shouldn't be trying anything."

"Otherwise we'll end up in the same situation we were in in Threed," Ness muttered, now drumming his fingers on the kitchen table.

This was getting frustrating. Ever since Threed, they had been getting nowhere. Porky and his army had gotten too powerful, and unless something unexpected happened soon, it would remain that way. Ness wanted to say they should try to find Dr. Andonuts, but that brought them back to the same issues they've always had. Jeff wanted to ignore his dad's existence. They had no way of knowing where the man was, and it would be far too dangerous to go out looking for him. Every way Ness looked at it, they were stuck.

The group was quiet for some time after that. Jeff went to his and Tony's room and shut the door. Tony sighed and turned on the television, knowing when Jeff needed to be alone. Paula shut her book and placed it on the living room coffee table, standing up to walk to the kitchen.

"Come on, Ness," she said, looping an arm through his and guiding him to the fridge. "Let's make some dinner before the Pigmask inspectors show up for the night. Wouldn't want to be sitting out in the open when they come looking for trouble."

No, they certainly wouldn't want that.

Make dinner, hide in the pocket shelter Jeff built for them, sleep, get up, scout around Winters, rinse, repeat. Just another day in the life of Onett's dreaded rebel leader.

* * *

_Rejoice, for the Terror of Onett has been captured. He will plague our streets no more, and those who worship the world King P lives in can feel safe again. This is a warning to those who would follow in the Terror's footsteps: Your leader has fallen, and with him, your resistance._

Disheartening words coming from a disheartening situation. Lucas thought that maybe he should have been more upset over the issue, but at this point he only felt bitter. Here he was, actively fighting and rebelling in the heart of the New Pork Metropolis, and the boy he once idolized had been captured in America of all countries.

He had seen the trap coming from a mile away, so he wasn't sure how the Onett kid hadn't figured it out. All of the resistance he had been hearing about was coming from America for the past year or so, and suddenly the Pigmasks say they're closing in on the boy in Chommo? It had all been a ruse, one to make the boy lower his guard so they could catch him unaware.

With as many tricks and traps as King P liked to play, Lucas wouldn't have been surprised if maybe the announcement about catching the rebel boy was also a lie, but he had his doubts. Brainwashed though most the population was, lying about catching the rebel boy and then having him continue his resistance elsewhere would sow doubt in their addled minds. If there was one thing Lucas knew about King P, it was that he wanted the populace's undivided love and admiration. There was no need to risk giving them doubt by falsely claiming he had caught the Terror of Onett.

So to some extent, Lucas truly did believe the boy he once looked up to had been captured. Tricked into revealing himself in a country the Pigmasks had hardly even touched, yet.

The emergency report continued blaring through the small radio Duster had pilfered off of a defeated Pigmask some years ago, but Lucas could see Kumatora itching to shut it off. After some minutes passed and the report was still going on, reaching increasingly insulting tones about those who fought against King P, Lucas ended up shutting it off himself. There was no reason to listen to that if it was just going to piss Kumatora off and upset Duster.

Lucas sometimes wondered if he was affected by it like his two friends were, but figured that he didn't care enough to ask. He didn't need Kumatora pointing out how his eyes sometimes got a little glassy, or how his face would redden the longer it went on.

"And thank god for that," Kumatora muttered, referencing the silenced radio. "Those assholes could go on all day ranting about us if you let 'em."

She crossed her arms in front of her, stretching her legs out as she slouched back on their ratty old couch. Duster was a few feet away, digging through the chest where they kept all of his thief tools. He looked up briefly when Kumatora kicked the stone flooring with her heel, but turned back and ignored her when nothing else happened.

The three were eerily silent after that, and Lucas could see Kumatora stewing in annoyance over it. She hadn't been in the best mood that day already, and Lucas was guessing the radio announcement hadn't helped in the slightest. After a few more moments passed, she threw her hands up in the air and stood from the couch, approaching the rusty, iron door that lead out of their hideout.

"I'm going out," she announced. "I can't handle sitting around right now."

And with that, she was gone. The door slammed shut behind her, and Lucas was left with Duster, still curiously digging through his thief tools. Boney whimpered at the door where she left, and Lucas walked over so he could pet and comfort his longtime companion.

Lucas wasn't too worried about her. Kumatora was tough, and her advanced PSI abilities were more than enough to take out any opposition she might find in New Pork's slums. The slums where Tazmily Village used to reside held some of the more dangerous criminals in the Nowhere Islands' bustling metropolis, but Lucas and his friends knew that was better than the alternative: constantly running and hiding from the Pigmasks who patrolled the main streets of New Pork day-in and day-out.

Ever since all of this started, tragedies had struck them one after the other. Six years ago brought the Pigmasks to Nowhere, transforming Tazmily Village and bringing New Pork City to the distant shores of the Islands. Lucas had lost his entire family back then, his mother being killed by a mecha-drago before his very eyes, his brother going missing trying to avenger her, and his father never being home, too busy mourning at his late wife's grave and searching for a son who was almost certainly dead.

When three years passed and Tazmily had been abandoned, nearly all citizens having been brainwashed and moved to New Pork, Lucas knew it was time to make some sort of change.

New Pork had been expanding over those three years, and by then it already took up half the main island. The Pigmasks were taking over Eagleland and spreading to Chommo and Foggy Land. If something wasn't done, Lucas wasn't just going to lose the entirety of the Nowhere Islands, but maybe even the rest of the world as well.

That was when he grouped up with Kumatora and Duster. Kumatora was the adopted, orphaned child of the long-deceased Magypsies, ancient beings believed to have given their lives so that the Nowhere Islands could continue to exist. She was in a relationship with the DCMC's bassist Lucky, stage name of a thief from Tazmily named Duster. The two of them were eager to kick the Pigmasks to the curb (or at least Kumatora was. Duster was merely dragged along by her with the encouragement of the rest of his band), and the three of them began traveling around both New Pork and what was left of the Nowhere Islands, looking for anything that might help them in their cause.

Lucas didn't hear about the Terror of Onett until about a year later, after Duster had stolen the radio they still used to this day. The kid had been causing mass hysteria in Eagleland, him and his accomplice taking out any Pigmask facilities and labs they could find. This was someone King P knew personally, and the rebel from Onett had a vendetta against him. The kid was to be caught and brought to King P through any possible means, and was considered the greatest threat to his rule.

The story brought hope when Lucas believed he had none left. They had been so closed off on the Nowhere Islands, trying to stay away from the ever growing metropolis invading their lives, so there had been no doubt in his mind that he, Duster, and Kumatora were the only three fighting against the invasion. Finally, after all of that time, he had proof that someone else was out there; someone powerful enough that even King P feared him.

From that day on, Lucas thought he would idolize this rebel kid forever. That was why the rebel's capture should have upset Lucas; why him being caught due to an obvious trap should have filled Lucas with disappointment. He felt none of those things, however. Just bitterness.

Maybe if this was six years ago, back when he was ten and coddled into being the crybaby everyone thought he was, he would feel more. But things were different now. He couldn't afford to sit back and cry over his mother's now-destroyed grave. After all of this time, Lucas was rebelling in the heart of the issue, and he had yet to be caught. Sure, he knew something more needed to be done, but any plans he had had been crushed by the Onett kid being captured.

Still, if the boy was still alive, there was a good chance he was being held in the Empire Porky Building. It was dangerous to make any move closer to the main city streets, and certainly suicide if Lucas wanted to storm Porky's main base of operations for a boy that may already be brainwashed or dead, but this was an opportunity.

Once Kumatora returned, Lucas would speak about the matter with her and Duster. It would need careful planning and more information, but it was feasible. Already he could hear Duster's protests of _It's too dangerous! Too drastic!, _but at this point, maybe they needed to do something drastic in order to make a change.

* * *

Back in America, Ana and Lloyd awoke in the small town of Podunk. Teddy was there to tell them the news: He had managed to save the two from the Pigmask troops that ambushed them, but their robot commander had already flown off with Ninten.

While Ana and Lloyd cried over their kidnapped friend in Podunk, Ninten awoke in a bare room in New Pork Metropolis. The same robot commander who had captured him stood watch, weapon at the ready, and all Ninten could do was groan and go back to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: To anyone who's interested in keeping track of this story's weird timeline, here are everyone's current ages as of this chapter:**

**Kumatora, Teddy, Duster - 22, 24, 26 (respectively)**

**Ness, Jeff, Poo, Ninten - 18**

**Lloyd, Ana, Paula - 17**

**Lucas, Claus - 16**


	3. You Might Have the Wrong Guy

Ninten stood in a large, high-ceilinged room, staring at the metallic walls, gears, and wires hanging everywhere. He stared at the muddled, rusty flooring and the darkened, cracked windows around him. He even stared at the silent robot beside him who stood dutifully at attention, helmet shrouding its face as it stared impassively ahead.

Ninten refused to so much as even glance in King P's direction.

He knew that a large capsule sat at the far end of the room, and he knew there was another robot in front of it bearing King P's likeness. There was no reason to be cooperative and look at the pig king himself, hiding inside of his impenetrable capsule.

"Tell me, slave, does this _look_ like your target to you?" the robot resembling King P asked. Somehow Ninten could hear the sneer in its voice, and he knew if he looked in the capsule he would see a matching expression on the real king's face.

"I picked up the person Colonel Richards sent me after, Master Porky. This is the human his troops have been trailing in America the past year," the other robot, the army's commander, replied. Unlike the King P (Porky?) robot, the commander had no inflection in its voice, giving off a dead, emotionless tone.

Had he been in a better mood, Ninten would have laughed. Here were two robots having a conversation while the humans stood aside and watched. That really defined the world King P was making, didn't it?

A large blast shot past Ninten and jolted him out of his musings. He heard the crunch and break of what was presumably machinery as the energy struck the commander, crumpling its left leg and violently knocking it to the ground. The robot made no sound of pain, or even a grunt to acknowledge that its master had just _shot_ it. Ninten could only stare in shock at the destroyed appendage, bone (_metal_, Ninten, robots don't have bones!) was sticking prominently through the commander's skin (definitely synthetically made and applied, because again, _robot_) and fractured all around. The leg itself was crumpled in at impossible angles, and the commander was just barely able to make it up onto its other knee in a bastardized form of a kneel.

Ninten shouldn't have felt sick, but he couldn't help it. It was just a robot—dispensable, fixable—but it was also the army's ever-feared commander. A pressure built in the back of his head, only furthering his nausea and pushing him to help. He should do something—no, he shouldn't care.

But that leg looked far too human. Ninten thought back to what he had told Ana not so long ago about her mother, and…

"Get out of my sight. I'll figure out what to do with you later," the Porky robot hissed. "Tell Colonel Richards to see me later while you're at it."

The commander let out a quiet sigh, the only sign that it was aware of its master's orders, and extended wings from the compartment in its back. As it lifted itself from the ground and flew away, its destroyed leg twisted and flopped with sickening crunches. Ninten wanted to puke, and still the commander remained silent and flew from the room obediently.

As the doors shut behind the Pigmask army's commander, Ninten took a moment to compose himself. His eyes were glued to the spot where the commander had fallen, blood smeared with a trail leading out of the room. Robots weren't supposed to bleed, but unless this particular one used red, viscous oil or something, Ninten might need to reconsider what he thought he knew about them.

The commander was well-known throughout the entire world; the Pigmasks' beloved yet fearsome trump card, strong enough to take out any resistance. It was an emotionless killing machine, and so much as just a mention of it brought fear into any non-brainwashed citizen of America. They all heard what had happened in Onett, how the entire lockdown had been headed by the robot commander. They knew all of Eagleland had fallen so quickly thanks to the commander's constant presence there.

Ninten wondered if that rebel kid he'd been mistaken for ever faced off against the commander. He also wondered just how strong this Porky guy was if a single blast from him was enough to take its leg out like that. To be honest, Ninten didn't even know if the blast had come from the robo-Porky, the capsule that real-Porky resided in, or somewhere else Ninten was unaware of.

"Your power feels like that almighty idiot's," came the same sneering voice from before. Ninten hardly reacted, glancing to where the commander had left from and then back to the blood smears.

"Almighty idiot, huh?" Ninten muttered without thinking, finally sending an annoyed glare at the robo-Porky. "Kinda sounds like you."

"Oh, well I can see where my followers' confusion came from. Your sarcasm's on par with Ness's alright," the robot responded with glee. "Maybe if I cared a little more, I would see just how you came into existence."

_What on Earth are you _talking_ about? _Ninten wanted to ask him, but found that he didn't particularly care enough, either.

"Are we done yet?" he asked instead, folding his arms and standing up straighter. By now, Ninten had fully turned to give the robo-Porky his attention. At this angle, he could catch glimpses of the real King P making faces and laughing from within his capsule. "I'm obviously not your Onett rebel—or Ness, or whatever—so what do we do now? I go home and tell my friends that your army's full of morons?"

The real Porky held a sick grin on his face while the robot barked out in manic laughter. "Oh, you're funny. You seem to think you're as smart as Ness did, too," the robot spoke once its laughter died down. "Listen, I was just going to have my lifeless little son kill you when it first brought you in, but that would be a waste now."

"Oh, lucky me," Ninten muttered. "Because my powers resemble some, what did you call it? Almighty idiot?"

"Oh yes, are you familiar with an alien named Giygas?"

Ninten shot an eyebrow up at that. "Oh, close! I am familiar with an alien, but his name definitely wasn't Giygas." The Porky robot opened its mouth to say something else, but Ninten cut it off. "I got my PSI powers from my great-uncle _Giegue_, and if he's anything like your idiot Giygas, then you probably know I could just teleport out of here if I really wanted."

Porky's smile grew from within his capsule. "Could you, though?" the robot spoke for him.

At his prompting, Ninten got his first inkling that something might be wrong here. At once he tried to use PK Teleport, but something blocked him. The force came from the back of his head, and while it didn't hurt, he found himself overwhelmingly lightheaded and dizzy. His eyes closed and he shoved a palm into his forehead, trying to get the world to stop spinning.

As the sensation faded from his head, he heard robo-Porky speak once more. "Oh look, Dr. Andonuts is useful for something after all!"

"Fine, I'll bite," Ninten ground out. A fresh new wave of nausea struck him as he attempted PK 4th D-Slip against his better judgement. "Damn…" he paused, but eventually got the words out. "What did you do to me? This can't be like your brainwashing."

"Well, I _was_ expecting my dearest friend Ness here, so I had Dr. Andonuts modify you with a few PSI blocks. No, no! Don't give me that look!" the robot laughed out when it caught Ninten's panicked expression. "You've got a little device right in the back of your head," the robot explained, pointing at the junction where its own head met its neck, "that blocks any offensive or teleport related PSI from being used. You see, I didn't want to brainwash my once friend, I just wanted to make it so he was forced to cooperate with me. You can still use your support and healing PSI to your little heart's content. Go ahead, try it!"

Ninten did not want to fall for the bait if there was any, and vowed to at least attempt PK Healing once he was out of the pig king's presence. Still, despite the news, Ninten made an effort not to let it get to him. Porky seemed willing to give Ninten some allowances, apparently due to his resemblance to this Ness kid and an alien named Giygas (who may or may not be his great-uncle Giegue).

"Yeah, think I'll pass. What are you going to do with me now? Getting a little bored, you know." _I also need you to stop speaking so I can still pretend not to be affected by any of this_, was what Ninten kept to himself. "You gonna throw me in the brig or something?"

"Oh, don't worry. You'll have your freedom; you'll just be working a very important job in my army," robo-Porky replied, while the real Porky silently laughed away (Ninten felt a sick urge to laugh as well when it devolved into a coughing fit). "You'll be promoted to the rank of Pigmask Captain, and you'll also be the bodyguard to that monster I just sent out of here. It's such a fragile little thing."

Ninten's first thought was that the commander was most certainly _not_ fragile, and he'd only be protecting it from Porky himself. What he ended up saying was:

"You really think I'll cooperate with you just because you blocked some of my PSI? That I'll just willingly protect whoever you tell me to? You mine as well kill me now, because it's not happening."

"Nah, your power is far too interesting to kill you. I can always just throw you in the Nice Person Hot Spring for a few hours…or days. Or I suppose I could have Dr. Andonuts reconstruct you the same way I had him turn my favorite slave." Porky's laughing and wheezing from within his capsule suddenly made Ninten feel far more nausea than amusement. He knew his face must have gone pale, for the robo-Porky held a far smugger tone to its voice when it continued talking. "He's already made a few modifications to you anyways. Just think, you're practically one step away from becoming a chimera like my stupid, lifeless commander!"

The nausea had settled far too prominently in his stomach, and there was no way Ninten could continue to hide his shock and disgust.

"What the hell else did you do to me?" he forced himself to speak, his voice quiet and lacking its previous confidence.

"Oh, good question! I'm glad you asked!" the robot laughed in response. Ninten's panic was rising at such a rate that he couldn't bear to see what expression the real Porky wore. "A few improvements here and there. Again, they were supposed to be for Ness, but considering how similar you are to him anyways, I see no issue giving you his intended job. Hell, if you do well enough, I might not be forced to kick you from the position when I _do_ capture him!"

That didn't answer anything, yet Ninten couldn't bring himself to respond anymore. He never thought human chimeras would ever be a thing. He never expected to have experiments done on himself! (But they'd been done on the commander. The commander was obviously a chimera, how could it not be? Why did he always assume it was only a robot?)

"Listen, I'm a nice, merciful ruler," the robo-Porky didn't even try to sound innocent, "so I'll tell you the biggest adjustment: You have been reconstructed to respond to any need of my commander. If it's in danger, you'll feel a little push that will make you work to help it out. If you're nowhere near it, you'll feel this little niggling feeling in your head telling you to go to it. That moronic doctor did something so you two can track each other by using your PSI energies. Said it should work no matter how far you two are from each other. Trust me, when I dismiss you now, you'll find yourself wandering to wherever it is."

"Why?" Ninten finally bit out. "It, he, I don't know, he doesn't need some protector! What if he ends up killing me? Or I manage to escape? What are you _doing_?"

He had lost his cool. There was deep shame welling up within him, but it was overshadowed by his sheer panic and how overwhelmed he had become. Porky was seeing all of it, and Ninten could no longer play up his bravado. He couldn't even look in the pig king's direction anymore.

"It got the same adjustments as you, don't worry. It'll defer to you if it needs to. Also, please don't refer to it like it's an actual _person_," the robo-Porky sneered in disgust, putting heavy distaste on the word 'person'. "It will report to me your status everyday until I'm satisfied with your compliance. Corrective action will be taken if you rebel too much. Piss me off enough, and, well, I already told you what might happen."

None of this made sense. Ninten didn't understand why Porky wanted this. Didn't understand why the pig king seemed so interested in _him_, someone who wasn't even the person Porky was looking for. This wasn't fair. This wasn't right, this should have never happened to him, and yet…

"You can get out of my sight, now," the robot dismissed, though Ninten could still hear the sick amusement in its voice.

Once again, Ninten's eyes caught sight of the commander's blood drying on the floor. Had he been any younger, he knew he would have ended up puking then and there.


	4. Bonding with a Chimera

The commander was found at the end of a long hallway, leaning heavily against the corner and putting all of his weight on his undamaged right leg. His energy likely ran too low for him to continue flying, stopping him from going any further. Ninten hadn't needed their newfound PSI bond or whatever the hell it was to find him. Blood trailed straight to him, making Ninten wonder how much a human-machine chimera could lose before passing out or dying.

Already he was starting to feel what Porky told him about. There was no particular concern or worry in his mind that hadn't already been there, but the same dizziness and nausea he got when attempting PK Teleport would happen. He even tried to take a wrong turn when wandering there earlier, and not only did the illness arise, but he had a far too overwhelming feeling of _wrongness _strike him as well. Without any conscious thought on his part, Ninten had immediately turned and went in the right direction instead.

He hated it. He hadn't shaken off the intense panic that made him want to puke yet. It felt like he had lost all agency and will without actually having been brainwashed. His thoughts were racing with too many questions, wondering if these changes would affect his personality and feelings; if it would lead to him becoming just as good as brainwashed, and everything was quickly becoming far too real.

Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy had always cared about what was going on with the Pigmasks. Ninten always thought they cared far too much. He knew that while what the Pigmasks were doing was horrible, there wasn't anything they could do, so he never cared as much as them. Even in the face of Porky and the Pigmask commander, he didn't initially feel this way. Now it hit him full force.

In his mind, things were bad in the world, but they would never be too bad for him. Podunk was untouchable, and he and his friends were always successful in protecting other towns and people.

Well, this was quite the wakeup call, wasn't it?

He remembered once more what he told Ana about human chimeras, and he hoped to god that her mother didn't end up like the commander, or even like himself. She was better off brainwashed and living blissfully unaware in Snowman. For both hers and Ana's sake, she could not go through this.

"Hey," Ninten spoke with some hesitance, voice monotone. "You need to get your leg taken care of."

The commander merely shuddered where he stood, arms clutched together in a death grip. Ninten had no idea how he was still standing, but chose not to worry about it. His healing abilities couldn't fix the amount of destruction that leg had suffered, but he could at least stop the bleeding and the worst of the damage. The rest would need to be taken care of by a doctor or scientist, whatever worked on a human chimera.

_Are there other human chimeras out there? How much experimenting has Porky done?_, came the intrusive thought, which Ninten immediately shook from his head.

"So, where are we going?" Ninten continued, approaching the commander and raising a hand to put on his shoulder. He hesitated though, uncertain of how the being he once thought of as a killing machine would react. Porky said the commander wouldn't hurt him, but Ninten trusted Porky about as far as he could throw that giant capsule he hid in.

He put his hand back down and sighed. The commander shuddered once more and slid further down the wall. What was he supposed to do? Ninten was completely out of his comfort zone here, but that force in the back of his head prevented him from backing out. He didn't necessarily want to either, considering what he now knew about the commander.

"PK Lifeup," Ninten murmured, casting the alpha version of the ability just to test the waters. When nothing happened to stop him from using it, he followed it up by using the far more powerful PK Lifeup Gamma on the commander.

The bleeding stopped and the skin mended itself, but the leg was now healed completely wrong. Bone still stuck through skin, and the leg was still twisted and bent in ways Ninten didn't want to think about. Still, he couldn't risk the commander bleeding out in the hallway, and this was the only immediate solution he could come up with. The rest would be up to the commander, as Ninten had no clue where the doctors or scientists were in this place.

"Hey," Ninten tried to get his attention again. This time he managed to put a hand to the commander's shoulder, bracing himself. When nothing happened, Ninten let loose the breath he had been holding and continued, "can you show me where the doctor is? Or, the med bay or whatever?"

The commander slid further down the wall, about to collapse, and Ninten immediately moved to grab him by the waist and hold him up. Thank god Ninten was as tall as he was ("An absolute beanstalk!" his mother once joked) and stronger than he looked, too. The commander was shorter than him, but not as scrawny or light. In fact, Ninten knew the robotic parts of the chimera's body had to be weighing him down more than was necessary.

"Alright, uh, damn you're heavy," he spluttered, adjusting his hold on the commander and getting one of the chimera's arms slung around his shoulders. "So, where are we going?"

"I want to go back," the commander finally spoke, nearly inaudible. Ninten almost missed it, not thinking the guy would actually talk to him.

"Yeah, no. We're keeping you away from King Pig Face."

"Back to Mom."

The commander shuddered in Ninten's hold, and as close as he was now, Ninten could see how deathly pale he was under that helmet. The robotic parts of the chimera were overheating as sweat dripped down his face, and the force in Ninten's head started acting up far more fiercely.

"I, I don't know if I can do that for you, man," Ninten ground out, keeping his eyes shut in an attempt to stave off the dizziness. "Listen, if I go that way," he gestured down the hall with his free hand, "will that be the right direction?"

"No," was the quiet response.

"Okay, then the opposite direction it is."

He was able to maneuver them enough so they could turn around and hobble down the hallway. It was slow and agonizing, Ninten struggling to take most of the chimera's weight, but it was progress. Even if he had to stop at every turn and intersection to ask the commander where to go, it was something.

There were times where he could feel the commander fading away, and it was during those times that he had to lightly shake him and try to engage him in conversation.

"So, what's your name? I'm getting a little sick of just referring to you as the commander."

"Commander."

Ninten frowned and tightened his grip around the chimera's waist.

"No, that's a title. I want your _name_."

"I don't have one. The army calls me Commander. Lucas called me Masked Man. Master Porky likes 'slave' and 'monster'," the commander mumbled, voice getting softer with each word.

Ignoring the mention of someone named Lucas, figuring them to be a prominent member of the army, Ninten groaned in frustration. No wonder everyone thought this guy was just a robot. That's really all Porky wanted him to be, huh? But he knew there was something else there. It might have been the delirium speaking, but there was something human in the offhanded comments the commander made ("_I want to go back…back to Mom"_), and Ninten wondered if he even realized he was saying such things.

"Well, I'll just ask your doctor then," Ninten shrugged, trying to play the matter off.

It felt like forever, but the two eventually made it to a floor that was comprised entirely of scientists and lab equipment. A strange old man who weirdly reminded Ninten of Lloyd appeared and fussed over the commander, having assistants take the chimera from Ninten's sore arms and bring him to a small examination room.

Some of the people were familiar to him, as Ninten remembered seeing them when he was led from his solitary holding cell and up to Porky's throne room earlier. They threw curious glances his way, but eventually followed the head scientist and the others into the other room with the commander. Ninten sat, alone and confused, and tried to keep his thoughts from throwing him into a nervous breakdown. That's when a sudden realization came to him, and from then on he couldn't get it out of his head. It sat there, nearly driving him mad as he waited for the scientists to finish with the commander.

After everything that had happened, why hadn't he had an asthma attack yet?


	5. Someone to Confide In

"Well, the bad news is that his left leg couldn't be salvaged and had to be reconstructed with a cybernetic model. The good news is that this time I only had to replace a leg from the knee down! Last time good ol' Porky blew up on him, the commander lost his entire right leg!" Dr. Andonuts chuckled, sending ice to the bottom of Ninten's stomach. "If he keeps it up, the poor boy will have no human limbs left! All's he got left is his left arm and thigh!"

Ninten swallowed and hoped he didn't look as spooked as he felt.

He tried to look the doctor in the eyes, but his gaze kept getting drawn back to the commander. The chimera was standing still, silent and robotic; eerie compared to how he was before Ninten brought him in. His clothes had been replaced with a white t-shirt and shorts, his original pants and boots having been thrown out when the scientists deemed them unsalvageable. Due to the overheating in his systems, the scientists also made sure to take off his heavy jacket and helmet.

Ninten could make out far more of the commander's mechanical parts now, noting his right arm and leg to be completely cybernetic, as well as his left eye. The reconstructed half of his left leg held intense burns and bruising where machine fused with skin, and if Ninten wasn't so certain that the commander couldn't feel pain, then he knew the reconstructed leg would have felt agonizing to him.

He also noted the parts of him that were still human. The commander was young; just how young Ninten wasn't sure, but definitely younger than himself (he didn't want to start thinking about how the mechanical half of the commander's body might affect the way he aged), and his skin was naturally pale. That brought Ninten some relief, as while the chimera _had_ been too pale from blood loss earlier, it wasn't as terrible as he'd assumed. No, the commander was just a ginger.

Dr. Andonuts spoke some more disturbing technobabble that Ninten didn't quite understand, then finally addressed him directly.

"Do you have any relation to Ness? You look so much like him, I was almost fooled when the commander first brought you in here!" the older man grinned, making Ninten want to grab the commander and just get out of there. "Porky always kept showing everyone in the army these same pictures and videos of the kid, we all practically have what he looks like ingrained in us! And you have strong PSI powers, too. That can't possibly be a coincidence."

"Sorry, man," Ninten shrugged, constantly glancing between the commander and the lab's exit. "I've never been anywhere outside of America until now."

"Well, alright. I'll believe you for now. How are the adjustments going? I didn't want to reconstruct you too much, but sometimes things go wrong."

Ninten put on a fake smile, knowing it must look strained. "Oh, no, no problem here! You know, I just am bonded with a deadly chimera and get sick whenever I'm not right next to him being a good little babysitter. And, I guess whatever you did helped my asthma maybe, so that's cool, too." He gave a lame thumbs up at the end, then sighed and dropped the act. "Can I go, now?"

"Depends," Dr. Andonuts hummed, apparently having ignored everything else Ninten told him. "Commander, what are your orders for today?"

"Colonel Richards is to report to Master Porky, then I am to wait until tomorrow for further orders. Master Porky will punish me as he sees fit then," the emotionless voice droned on.

"He's punished you enough," Ninten muttered, crossing his arms.

"Master Porky has punished me enough when he says he has, human."

"Yeah, that's Ninten to you, Commander Ginger. Don't forget that you're half-human, too."

The commander gave the slightest frown, and had he not known any better, Ninten would have swore that he looked annoyed.

"We will be retiring now," the commander said, face back in a neutral expression.

With that, he grabbed his helmet and jacket, carrying them with his left arm as he walked out of the lab. Part of Ninten wanted not to be left behind, but he also had one last thing to ask the doctor. His PSI bond with the commander would help him locate him easily later.

"What's his name?" he asked, frowning at Dr. Andonuts.

"He has no name! He's not a person, after all. We all just call him Commander."

That answer wasn't good enough, so Ninten chose to push the issue. Strange though the man was, Ninten couldn't stop getting Lloyd-vibes from him, leading him to believe it would be easy enough to push the man into giving up what he knew. He was the one who reconstructed the poor kid, he _had_ to know something.

"Yeah, that answer's not going to cut it. What's his real name?"

"Commander," Dr. Andonuts persisted. "You won't get anywhere else asking around like that."

Given the time, Ninten would have pushed harder, maybe even tried to bully the doctor into giving up the name, but the commander himself was being neglected. Or so Ninten's weird bond was telling him. The commander likely didn't even notice or care that Ninten hadn't followed him, but that didn't stop the dizziness and nausea from rearing their ugly heads.

"Fine," he ground out, far more forcefully than he meant to, "but if I'm stuck in this damn place, then I'm coming back to this later. Don't you forget that, old man!"

And with that, he ran out of the lab, following the PSI pull that allowed him to catch back up with his not-so-robotic charge.

* * *

"I liked those boots."

The comment came out of nowhere, jolting Ninten out of his dozing state.

The two had reached the commander's quarters maybe an hour or two ago. That had been when Ninten realized they were going to be his quarters as well, finding a bed for him on the opposite side of the room.

("I have two beds now," the commander commented when they walked in, and it had taken all Ninten could do to not burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.)

Since then, Ninten sat on his bed observing the room and being all around bored. He took the time to consider his situation and try to calm down from it. There was still that underlying anxiety that he couldn't shake, as well as fear and anger at the entire situation, but at least he wasn't seconds away from a panic attack anymore.

There was a desk settled beside the commander's bed which the chimera had sat at, reading over reports or something. Not even half an hour passed before he finished whatever he was doing though, and the commander proceeded to sit on his own bed, also staring into space.

Alright, so the commander was brainwashed to the point of emotionlessness, maybe didn't even have a single individual thought in his head, but Ninten was going insane with the silence. He was so antsy, fidgeting on the bed and constantly glancing in the commander's direction. He found out early on that he would be getting no responses if he tried talking to him, and he couldn't leave their quarters without his PSI bond making him ill and forcing him back. Is this really what the commander did when he wasn't out following orders?

When he thought he'd finally relaxed enough to just lay back and rest, the commander then decided to make the sudden comment about his boots. Did he always say weird, random things like that out of the blue? Ninten didn't know if he wanted to laugh or feel immense frustration over it.

"Excuse me?" Ninten responded after staring at the commander for a few moments.

"They threw my boots out."

"You can just get a new pair if you ask. The Pigmasks would do anything for you, wouldn't they?" And that brought up another matter: Did the Pigmasks feel that way because they feared their commander, had their heads messed with like Ninten, or because they genuinely adored him? He wasn't so sure anymore.

The commander didn't respond to Ninten's question, but he wasn't about to let the conversation drop now, not when he finally found something to do. Think, Ninten, what might keep the commander from shutting down again?

"Who's Lucas?"

"The boy running the rebel group in New Pork Metropolis," the commander answered, much to Ninten's surprise.

"Alright, so why does he call you Masked Man? You clearly wear a helmet." Said helmet was sitting on the commander's desk along with his jacket. He hadn't changed out of his meager hospital clothing yet.

"It hides my face."

Ninten gave him an unimpressed look, but chose to let it drop. "So, is there like a rebel group in every region?" he asked instead. He'd never heard of there being a known rebel group in New Pork itself. Or perhaps Ana had said something about it once and Ninten just hadn't been paying attention. Who knew?

"Ness and Paula from Eagleland, Teddy and the Bla-Bla Gang from America, Lucas and friends from the Nowhere Islands," the commander listed off, as though giving a professional report.

Needless to say, Ninten wasn't too surprised that the Pigmasks were keeping some sort of eye on Teddy and his gang. He wanted to get their conversation more involved by going down that route and talking about his own rebel involvement in America, but victim or not, the commander was still brainwashed into lifelessly serving Porky. Anything Ninten said could be used against him and put his friends and family in danger.

Still, a new face would be nice to speak with, someone who didn't know him and didn't have the capacity to judge and make opinions, someone he was bonded to (albeit unwillingly). In the past, Ninten only really opened up to Ana, and even then she always tried to help him overcome these issues; issues Ninten didn't want someone to try and fix. The commander wouldn't do that, brainwashed as he was. Ninten was stuck with this kid, and the urge to just let it out overcame him, but the issue was Porky's earlier threat: that the commander was to report to him everyday about how Ninten was acting and cooperating.

Then again, the commander also stated he had no more orders for today, and Porky was known for being a consummate liar.

"Are you supposed to report to Porky everyday about me?"

The commander finally looked his way, giving Ninten a blank stare. The mechanical eye was beginning to unsettle him more than anything, especially as it flashed ever so briefly.

"I am to report to Master Porky every day, either in person or through other means. He will want to discuss your progress and if you are trying to escape or being uncooperative."

Ninten thought it over, then asked his next question, "If I were to just hold a conversation with you like we are right now, are you required to go into detail about it to him?"

"If it is in relation to you looking for a way to escape or cause problems within the army, then I must. Anything else is irrelevant."

"Does that include anything I did in the past, or…" Ninten trailed off, hoping the chimera would get his meaning.

"Master Porky only cares about the present; the past is of no use to him concerning you."

He thought about it. He thought about it real hard, but then decided to not entrust anything with the commander. The chimera in question was a completely unknown variable, and as tempting as it was to speak with someone about something so mundane like his feelings and past, he couldn't risk it. It wasn't the commander's fault, and Ninten still vowed to do everything he could to help the kid get free from Porky, but now was not the time.

Teddy had told Ninten, Lloyd, and Ana in great detail how he had managed to break the brainwashing on numerous different people, just on the off-chance that they would need to use that knowledge. This particular case of brainwashing was…intense, but Ninten knew the ins and outs of breaking it for the most part. Maybe once he could gain more trust with the kid he would open up a bit more, but definitely not now.

As silent as Ninten remained after his last question, the commander turned back to continue doing absolutely nothing. Eerie, but not unexpected. Ninten himself flopped back down onto his bed and considered his options.

His will was bound to a deeply brainwashed and reconstructed teenage boy, and Ninten didn't know the extent to which his own modifications messed with his mind. Everyway he looked at it he was stuck, being as he couldn't stray too far from the commander without being forced back. With what he currently knew, he didn't particularly want to leave without saving the commander either. It was a shitty situation that freaked Ninten out far more than he had ever been before, but he would make the best of it. Screw King Pig Face.

Ninten would eventually get out of there, and he would be taking the army's best soldier and chimera with him. He had access to inside information if he played his cards right, and he could get out and find those other rebel groups. They would band together, and with the intel from both Ninten and the commander, they would successfully take Porky out.

For the first time in years, Ninten's motivation was far overshadowing his apathy, and it felt wonderful.


	6. What's His Name?

"What's his name?" Ninten asked Dr. Andonuts.

"He has no name," was the same answer he received every day.

Ninten had been testing and pushing the limits of his and the commander's PSI bond for the past week, seeing what allowances and loopholes he could find. There was no way he would get anything done while glued to the commander's side, and he needed to keep any suspicious activity like snooping around hidden from him. No way he was getting tattled on to Porky by the very guy he was trying to rescue. So avoidance by any means was necessary.

Needless to say, Ninten found one glaring loophole in the form of Dr. Andonuts. Not only was Dr. Andonuts the most reliable source of information concerning both the commander and Ninten's modifications, but Ninten could use the excuse that he was visiting him for a checkup on the commander's status without the PSI bond acting up.

He had every intention of breaking the brainwashing on the commander and freeing him, and nothing about his PSI bond appeared to be opposed to this. Ninten wasn't sure if this meant that whatever he personally thought was good for the commander's health was fine, or if Dr. Andonuts programmed the bond with this in mind. Either way, his desire to disobey Porky and free both himself and the commander didn't make him feel nauseous or ill in the slightest.

Dr. Andonuts wasn't a bad man. A little creepy, definitely a little weird, but he wasn't the mad, immoral scientist Ninten originally believed him to be. It wasn't so farfetched to say that he didn't program the PSI bond exactly to follow Porky's intentions, but perhaps rather his own. Now, Ninten just needed to get the proof out of him.

"Why didn't I feel a need to attack Porky when he blasted the commander the other day?" was one of many questions Ninten asked the man.

"Because while you're protecting our dear Commander, it would be counterintuitive if you attacked Porky over it! Why, I would lose my life if such a thing were to happen!"

Right, understandable. That brought a few other things into question, though. Was Dr. Andonuts here willingly? Had Porky forced him?

"I'm here to further my research and push the boundaries of science! Porky allows me that opportunity," Dr. Andonuts would respond, but it never felt sincere. This man was so contrary that Ninten had a hard time believing any of his excuses.

"So you're willingly destroying other peoples' lives because you like doing shady experiments, is that right?"

"Well, of course!" he claimed, not looking sure of himself in the slightest.

"Right. If that's what you want to believe."

* * *

"What's his name?"

"Commander, boy. How many times do you need to be told?" Dr. Andonuts chuckled.

Ninten was admittedly starting to get a little bored of his time at the Empire Porky Building (as the commander so helpfully supplied to him that morning. Ninten was annoyed with himself for never thinking to ask before then). Every day was the same: he and Commander No-Name ate breakfast and then went their separate ways; the commander to brief and train his troops, and Ninten to Dr. Andonuts' lab for status reports and questioning.

Eventually Dr. Andonuts would kick him out in favor of working on his experiments, and Ninten would be forced to return to the commander, who was usually either still training troops or out and about on random, inane tasks within the army. Often times, Ninten wondered why the commander was no longer out on the field helping the Pigmasks with securing other regions of the world, but he figured Porky had his reasons. Or not. Ninten didn't really care.

Either way, he and the commander tended to do a whole lot of nothing once the afternoon kicked in.

At that point, Ninten's only lead was Dr. Andonuts, and it was difficult to catch him outside of the most ungodly hours of the morning. Dr. Andonuts was also proving to be a tough nut to crack. Unexpected, but still something Ninten could work with.

"Do you have a family somewhere?" Ninten chose to bring up that day. Ask enough personal questions, and the man was bound to crack sometime. "How do they feel knowing you're a selfish, mad scientist?"

Dr. Andonuts startled at that and glared at him, and while Ninten figured he might have somehow gone too far, he needed _something_ to get through to this man.

"I do have a family," he stated, adjusting his glasses and turning away. "Our relationship is strained, but I'm doing what I can for him."

With that, Dr. Andonuts walked away, shutting himself in his office and audibly locking the door. Guilt spread through Ninten, but he felt justified in saying what he did. Dr. Andonuts wasn't going to open up and help him out unless he could get the man to open his damn eyes and grow a backbone. Their conversation that day was short, but Ninten would start anew tomorrow morning.

Maybe his biggest regret was that he now had to be bored out of his mind with Commander Freckles earlier than usual.

* * *

"What's his name?"

"You've come up with plenty of amusing names for him already, why not just keep using those?"

It had practically become a greeting for the two, Ninten entering and asking the obligatory question, Dr. Andonuts answering without hesitation each time. This day was different in that said nameless boy was with them for once.

The day before had been a bit more exciting than previous days (which wasn't saying much), in that the commander had been called out to the streets of New Pork to quell some sort of riot that had been started by one of Nowhere's rebels. The rebel in question had been a tough, pink-haired girl whose bark was just as harsh as her bite. At the time, Ninten had accompanied the commander while wearing a complementary Pigmask Captain's uniform.

("It's way too big and smells like shit," he'd commented immediately.

"Deal with it," the commander responded, forcing a laugh from Ninten. He couldn't explain it. Practically any random, unexpected comment from the chimera always gave him a case of the giggles.)

The battle with the rebel girl had been interesting. During the entire time, Ninten's newfound instincts couldn't decide if he should violently attack the girl for harming the commander, or sit and dutifully heal the commander instead.

The riot with both the brainwashed and non-brainwashed Nowhere citizens had made everything far too chaotic, which had given the girl a slight edge. Despite this, they eventually got the upper hand on her, and she retreated into the roaring crowd of people. The commander hadn't seemed too worried about this for some reason, not even bothering to go after her. That was the main reason why he was with Ninten in Dr. Andonuts' lab that morning.

Porky had been _furious_ when the commander told him that he allowed the rebel girl to escape, not able to explain why he had done so. Ninten had been ordered from the throne room and sent to his and the commander's quarters for the remainder of the day. His PSI bond had gone insane during that time, getting to the point where he had actually puked from the nausea and fainted.

Sometime during the night, the commander had returned and awoke Ninten, robotic feet clanking against the flooring as he shuffled over to his bed. Not even bothering to wonder what had happened to the commander's boots this time, Ninten sat up and groaned. The nausea was gone, but he still had to clean himself up and process the utter rage he had felt at Porky in that moment.

He hadn't noticed how roughed up the commander had been until he returned from their en-suite bathroom, annoyance spiking as it brought his nausea crashing back down. PK Lifeup was used on the chimera to heal the worst of his wounds, but there was nothing Ninten could do about the malfunctioning machinery. At least nothing was destroyed that time, and the commander wouldn't be having any more limbs replaced. Ninten didn't think he would be able to deal with that if it were the case.

So they went to Dr. Andonuts' lab together in the morning, the commander's mechanical eye loudly shorting out and scaring the crap out of Ninten while they were walking.

"How old are you?" Ninten decided to ask the commander later on as Dr. Andonuts tinkered with the chimera's disabled eye.

"Oh, I see," Dr. Andonuts chuckled to himself, apparently having forgiven Ninten for what he'd said the day before, "got bored of me and decided to interrogate the commander instead?"

"Well, maybe I think he's more reliable," Ninten shot back, trying to keep a straight face. He knew he was less likely to get anything out of his emotionless charge than he was the stubborn doctor. "So, Commander Cinnamon, how old are you? I'm eighteen and Dr. Andonuts is ninety-two, so it's only fair we know your age, too."

The old man spluttered and accidentally jabbed one of his tools into the commander's mechanical eye. Predictably, the commander didn't even flinch, but Ninten still winced even as he laughed at the doctor's expense, not having expected that reaction.

"Sorry, Commander, sorry," Dr. Andonuts mumbled at the chimera, then spoke up and gave a quick glance at Ninten. "I most certainly am _not _ninety-two yet! Where did you even get that idea?"

"Give it up, Commander. I want that age!" Ninten said, choosing to ignore the old man.

"I was created six years ago."

The reply made Ninten want to bury his head in his hands, but it's not like it had been unexpected.

"Right," Ninten drawled, holding out the 'I'. "How old were you when you were reconstructed?"

"I was not even a day old."

If Ninten could, he would have socked the commander right in the face. What a smart ass.

"So you were just born this way, huh? Do you like to call Dr. Andonuts 'Dad'? Or what about Porky? I've heard him call you son before." The very thought of the creepy way Porky treated the commander made Ninten shudder, and he immediately regretted bringing it up.

Still, the commander stared at Dr. Andonuts with a weird amount of thought and focus. Had he been staring at Ninten, he knew he would have been freaked out, but Dr. Andonuts tended to be unfazed by those kinds of things. Or, he was until the commander said something to shake the man's façade.

"Should I call you Father?" the commander asked the doctor, and Ninten couldn't help the bark of laughter he let out.

"Oh, uh, no. That's not necessary," Dr. Andonuts replied, finally appearing visibly freaked out. In fact, he almost looked like he'd seen a ghost

Interesting.

* * *

"What's his name?"

"I liked Commander Cinnamon. That was a good one."

At this point, the question was asked out of habit. There was never a proper response, but he at least felt he was getting somewhere in other areas. The man was cracking; had been ever since the incident with the commander calling him Father a few days ago. His family was the breaking point. Ninten should have figured earlier, but now that he knew for sure, he was going to use it to his advantage.

"So, is the commander your actual son?" Ninten asked, poking at a nearby caged slitherhen.

Dr. Andonuts gave him an incredulous look. "The commander? Of course not! He was just some boy Porky found dead on the side of a mountain, missing an arm and an eye."

"Was he your boy?"

"No! I have a son, but it's not the commander. My son lives over in Foggy Land."

Dr. Andonuts grabbed the cage with the slitherhen and brought it to a different room while Ninten thought about what he'd been told. This was the most open Dr. Andonuts had been about himself since Ninten was forced into the army. A giddy feeling welled up inside him. This was progress!

The doctor came back, pushing a larger, wheeled cage in front of him. Inside it was an ostrelephant, making Ninten wonder just what Dr. Andonuts was doing with all of these more generic chimeras.

"So, what about a wife? Or other family?" Ninten questioned further as Dr. Andonuts went to grab some of his examination tools.

"My wife passed not too long ago. All that I have left is my son," Dr. Andonuts continued, pointedly not looking Ninten's way.

"You said your relationship is strained before, right?"

Dr. Andonuts remained silent, looking over the ostrelephant. It took some time, but Ninten was patient and wanted to see if he would answer. Eventually, the man stopped what he was doing and sighed, setting down his tools and putting a hand to his head.

"Jeff—my son—he, uh," he took a moment and swallowed. "I was never really there for him growing up. I was always too engrossed with my work, never paying attention to him. I wasn't even there the day he got accepted into Snow Wood Boarding School. It had been his dream to go there, and I was over in Saturn Valley."

Another long pause, where Ninten remained quiet. He was afraid that if he said anything, it would spook Dr. Andonuts and he would clamber up.

"Jeff thinks I joined Porky just so I can make chimeras and build other crazy things. He hates me now more than he ever did before."

Ninten raised an eyebrow, a knowing smirk on his face. "But you told me not too long ago that you joined Porky for that exact reason."

"It's better if Jeff doesn't know!" Dr. Andonuts broke. He finally turned to Ninten, face red. "It's better if he keeps thinking that's why I'm here."

"Well then, what is it? Why are you actually here?"

The doctor's head was back in his hands, the man leaning back against the cage with the ostrelephant. He sighed heavily and then took his glasses off so he could rub at his eyes.

Ninten leaned his elbows onto the counter he stood at. It was now or never.

"You're here because Porky forced you. Did he threaten your son?"

Dr. Andonuts put his glasses back on, running a hand through his thinning hair.

"Yes. If I didn't join him and help him make all of these chimeras, he would kill Jeff. I don't know how, but Porky's powerful. Incredibly powerful. I have no doubt he would kill Jeff in a heartbeat if I start acting like anything other than a happy participant here."

"You sabotaged the PSI bond between me and the commander," Ninten spoke bluntly. "It should be stopping me from digging up all of this stuff and trying to escape, shouldn't it? I mean, I assume it should."

Dr. Andonuts stared at him for just a moment, looking worn and tired. "There was a lot more Porky wanted me to do to you. That includes what you were just talking about. And it's true. I didn't do everything I should have. You shouldn't have as much freedom as you do, and we've been lucky Porky hasn't figured it out, yet."

"You're doing all of this to save your son; all of the crazy experiments and whatnot. But you obviously want to help me and the commander, so why don't you do more?"

"You know I can't!" Dr. Andonuts hissed back, taking a quick breath to calm himself down. "I'm risking far more than I should just talking to you like this. We need to stop before anyone catches on."

"Or you could get your head out of your ass and actually do something about this! Why are you letting the whole world die when you have the best advantage out of anyone fighting against Porky? Yes, your son's in danger, but have you even considered how many other families are being torn apart because of this?"

Silence once again. Ninten couldn't decide if he was thrilled or angered over the direction their conversation had gone, but it was something. He could only hope that Dr. Andonuts didn't shut down on him again.

"I think that's enough for today," Dr. Andonuts muttered out, much to Ninten's frustration.

"What? No! We were getting somewhere! You've got to be—"

"Ninten, I have a lot to work on today. Just go check on the commander now."

Ninten glared at him, annoyed that Dr. Andonuts would shut down so easily when they were _this close_ to something resembling progress. Now it was Ninten's turn to sigh, turning around and leaving.

"Whatever. Keep fucking everything up. There won't be a world for your son to live in anyways."

* * *

"What's his name?"

A pause. A deep intake of breath.

"His name is Claus."


	7. Moving On

Ness stared at the new article headlining the Winters Sunday paper. It had been nearly a month since it announced that Ness had been caught, and he and his friends had been eagerly awaiting to see how that would play out. Apparently, Porky was now telling the populace that Ness had sacrificed one of his 'followers' in order to trick him before, and would now be pulling out all the stops in order to take him down for good.

"Well, at least they're admitting they didn't get the right guy," Paula shrugged, having finished reading the article herself. "Too bad it still doesn't tell us if Porky actually caught someone or if it was just a trick all along."

"Right," Ness muttered, sitting at the kitchen table and resting his chin in his hand. "Not the most helpful news we've ever gotten."

It was only Ness and Paula there that day, Jeff and Tony out studying at Snow Wood's library for their finals. It was their last semester there before they graduated, so they had been spending most of their time on the school's campus ("Just like the old times!" Tony had reminisced. "Back when we had to live on campus and couldn't leave past curfew!"). One of them must have thought to grab the paper before leaving that morning though, as it had been sitting out once Ness and Paula returned from scouting.

"So, what do we do now?" Ness asked. "I'm running out of ideas."

And he really was. The two of them had been on the run for so long, Ness had been hoping that this incident would somehow give them an opportunity. Anything other than hiding out in Winters would have been preferable. Their only lead was still trying to find Dr. Andonuts, and there was no way that was ever going to happen at this rate.

"We need more help," Paula suggested. "We don't even have all of the Chosen Four here, let alone any of the others."

"Yeah, Paula, that cryptic nonsense isn't going to help us at all," Ness groaned in response, laying his head down on the table. "Where would we even find anyone else to help us?"

"I found us someone last time," she reminded him, poking at the top of his head until he raised it back up and swatted her hand away. She giggled as she continued, "and I swear there's someone else who should be with us. I know I say that a lot, but it feels wrong with just us and Jeff."

"I mean, we have Tony," Ness rolled his eyes. "He and Jeff are super tech buddies. Or boyfriends. I still haven't figured out which one it is, yet."

"No, not Tony. Someone stronger."

"Well, one: that's harsh. Poor Tony," Ness laughed, "and two: where are we going to find this other guy? You've prayed for them before now and got nothing."

"I can always keep—"

Paula was interrupted by a harsh knocking on the door, a gruff voice coming from the other side.

"Open up! We need to speak with Jeff Andonuts!"

Ness and Paula froze, staring at each other in horror. Why were the Pigmask inspectors there so early? What did they want with Jeff? They couldn't afford to be caught there and incriminate both Jeff and Tony! Ness wasn't sure what to do, but thankfully Paula shot up from the table and dragged him with her. They rushed into the apartment's guest room and she unlocked the hidden doorway in the closet, shoving Ness inside and following in after him.

They entered and shut the door not a moment too soon, as Ness heard the front door open and booted feet stomping around. From within their hidden shelter, they could hardly make out what the Pigmasks were shouting. Neither Ness nor Paula dared say anything. This situation was too unusual. Too dangerous. Normally the Pigmask inspectors stuck religiously to their schedule and the two Eaglelanders had enough time to go into hiding, but this had been out of the blue.

After what felt like forever, they heard the apartment door slam shut, and things were quiet again. Tentatively, Paula opened their shelter and peeked out of the closet, giving Ness the all clear. They were cautious as they crept into the rest of the apartment, hoping the Pigmasks were gone for good. It wasn't that they were afraid of fighting them—Ness and Paula were more than strong enough to take out a couple of Pigmask Grunts, thank you very much—but they couldn't risk anyone figuring out their location.

"What was that about?" Paula asked, breathless.

"I don't know. We'll need to wait for Jeff and Tony to come back so they can check the security feed. If Porky suspects that we're hiding out here…" Ness trailed off.

Paula looped an arm through his and hugged it, a pensive look on her face.

"We'll need to leave," she finished for him. "But that can't happen!" she continued, looking determined and squeezing Ness's arm tighter. "We need Jeff. This is where we're supposed to be, I just know it, and if I can just get in contact with that other person, then we'll be on the right track!"

Ness turned his head to look at her, then sighed. "Paula, I trust you. You know I do, but if you think you can reach this guy, then you need to hurry. I don't think we can stay here much longer."

They were quiet, standing there holding each other. Paula laid her head against Ness's shoulder and huffed out an annoyed breath.

"Then I guess I'll just have to get to work then."

* * *

Lucas didn't know what to think anymore. The announcement blaring through Duster's ill-gotten radio wasn't something he had expected to hear, and something wasn't adding up. Not even a month ago, the streets of New Pork had been more vibrant and livelier than he had ever seen them, even in the Tazmily slums. The people were celebrating the capture of the Terror of Onett, announcements talking about how the boy was being interrogated and giving up information left and right. Now they were saying it was the wrong guy? That couldn't be right.

Kumatora and Duster had readily agreed to Lucas' plan when the Terror of Onett had first been supposedly caught, and the three of them had been working to gain more information themselves. They had enacted their first plan about a week ago after hearing that the Masked Man was currently stationed at the Empire Porky Building.

They had dealt with the Pigmask Commander a few different times over the years, and they arguably knew how to work around him better than any other high ranking member of the army. For instance, while the chimera would put in his best efforts to defeat Lucas and his friends in battle, not once had he ever gone in for the kill. He would knock them out with his overly powerful PK Thunder, but then they would wake up sometime later, still alive and definitely not captured. The Masked Man may have been King P's greatest soldier and weapon, yet Lucas found he was the easiest person to deal with.

So they came up with a plan: Draw the Pigmasks' attention away from the Empire Porky Building, then do a base infiltration and try to get some more information from within. Breaking into King P's main headquarters was obviously dangerous and reckless, but they had done it before with varying amounts of success. It helped that they had stolen a couple different Pigmask uniforms from the army years ago.

Kumatora had volunteered to start a riot on the main streets of New Pork, pitting the brainwashed and non-brainwashed citizens against each other until the Pigmasks were forced to act. Once word got out that it was one of the Tazmily slum rebels instigating it, they knew King P would send out the Masked Man to deal with her, removing the strongest Pigmask soldier from the Empire Porky Building. With what they knew of the commander, Kumatora would likely be injured in the fight, but her overall safety was practically guaranteed. For whatever reason, they could rely on the Masked Man to never kill nor capture them.

While the distraction had gone on, Duster had put on a Pigmask uniform and snuck into the Empire Porky Building through the sewers while Lucas and Boney kept watch. The mission had been a success, with only minimal roadblocks along the way, and the group had met back up at their hideout all in one piece. To top it off, not only had Duster returned with helpful information, but Kumatora surprisingly had, too.

"He has a friend, now!" Kumatora had chirped, almost as if she thought it was adorable. "Don't have a clue who the hell the guy was, but he was following the Masked Man around like an angry little puppy dog." Boney whimpered at that analogy, making Kumatora laugh and pet him. "Come on, Bone. You know I meant it as a good thing!"

While Kumatora had discovered the Masked Man's mysterious bodyguard, Duster had picked up a few hints about them from his own adventures. Some of the scientists and soldiers were more than willing to give up information during the rare occasions one of the Tazmily rebels broke in, the group having their own code words to use so the Pigmask workers would know who they were right away. Along with hearing some concerning news regarding the chimera research department's head scientist, one of the scientists Duster encountered told him about a boy who had been captured and made to become the Masked Man's bodyguard and a captain of the army.

The boy was supposedly the Terror of Onett. Or, at least the scientist thought he was.

It made sense. When Kumatora had faced off against the duo, the bodyguard had used powerful healing PSI to support the Masked Man. All of the announcements they'd heard about the rebel from Eagleland always mentioned his powerful PSI abilities—abilities that were already rare enough to have, let alone to have someone proficient with them. They had naturally concluded that the Terror of Onett must have been captured and brainwashed into aiding the Pigmask Army.

Now, here was an announcement saying that it was the wrong person, and the actual rebel kid had sacrificed someone in order to trick King P. It made no sense. That sounded exactly like something King P would do, not the Onett kid, yet they had evidence that this may have been exactly what happened. There clearly was someone new to the army who was proficient with PSI, and they had shown up around the same time the news of the rebel boy's capture made rounds.

"What if they just captured the wrong guy and are trying to save face?" Duster asked, ever the reasonable man.

"I mean, it makes sense," Kumatora replied, arms crossed as she slouched on the couch; definitely her favorite sitting position. Duster looked tense sitting next to her, but loosened up when Boney jumped up to rest his head on the thief's lap. "When have you ever met, like, a smart Pigmask soldier?" Kumatora continued. "They probably found some kid with PSI powers in America and assumed it was this Onett kid. The Pig King probably flipped his shit and then decided to use the dude in his army anyways."

Lucas nodded, fidgeting with the corner of the old rug he sat on. Everything they said made sense. King P had the wrong guy and then used the opportunity to make his actual target look bad. Unfortunately, this also meant that the Terror of Onett was no longer one step away, and once more they had no idea where he was. This set them right back to square one.

"So what do we do now?" Lucas asked, glancing up at the two adults sitting on the couch.

"Well, I guess what we've always been doing," Kumatora replied.

"Which is…" Duster edged on.

"You know, finding some sort of lead and following it. I mean, just because the Onett kid isn't here doesn't mean we can't try to work with this other guy."

The other guy being the Masked Man's new bodyguard, Lucas was guessing.

"How do we know that guy can even help us? We don't know anything about him other than the fact that he can use PSI," Lucas responded, scrunching up the rug in his hands now. "Maybe if he was a known rebel like the Onett kid, but we really don't know."

"They found him in America right when a bunch of rebel activity started popping up though, didn't they?" Kumatora asked, turning to Duster who shrugged.

"If I'm remembering correctly, yes," he answered. "Activity's still been a bit common over there, so it isn't that farfetched to say this guy was a part of that."

Kumatora punched a fist to her palm, grinning. "Right! And I say we go with this. We need to get as many people on our side as possible; it doesn't matter if it's the Onett kid or not! If we can get our hands on this guy and get him on our side, he might have a bunch of stuff to tell us about the Pigmasks and their plans!"

"So, we just keep doing what we were already doing then," Lucas mumbled, tired smile on his face.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Kumatora responded, jumping up from the couch and staring down at Lucas. Her hands were to her hips, stance overly confident. "Come on, guys! Let's stop sitting around worrying about this and actually get to work!"

Duster sighed and tipped his head against the back of the couch, hand absently petting Boney. "How do you always have so much energy? It's nearly midnight."

"That's nothing! Come on, up! Get your lazy ass off that couch, Duster!" she continued, grabbing Duster's arm and pulling him from his seat. Boney jumped down to sit with Lucas on the floor, and the two sat watching Kumatora walk right out of the hideout with Duster in tow.

It was Lucas' turn to absently pet Boney as they sat alone in their small home.

"Do we even want to know where Kuma just dragged him off to?" he asked. Hearing Boney's responding whine, Lucas gave a quick laugh and slight smile. "Yeah, you're right. Everything will be fine."

* * *

Things were solemn over in Podunk, the town having gone quiet since Ninten's disappearance. The citizens had all heard the news, how the Pigmasks had supposedly captured the rebel leader from Eagleland after Snowman had been taken over. They all knew the Pigmasks had captured the wrong person, there was no need for them to hear the newest announcement made by King P.

Ana stared blankly at the newspaper in her hand. Everyone had already seen it. They all knew King P was accusing the rebel leader of sacrificing someone in order to trick him. It had made its rounds, and everyone had already moved on with their day. Ana just couldn't do that.

She had been sitting on a bench outside for a few hours now, unable to take her eyes off of the article. There were no pictures, as the Pigmasks were still keeping the rebel leader's features a secret, but she knew it was about Ninten. He had been gone for nearly a month now, having been captured by the Pigmask Commander while they were sending drones around Snowman.

It was her fault. Everything was.

Ninten's mom and sisters would scold her anytime she hinted that she felt this way, but she couldn't help it. Ninten was her closest friend, and she knew he would do anything for her, even if all he wanted was to stay home and mind his own business. If she hadn't gotten so worked up about Snowman and made them all go check it out, Ninten might have never been captured. Her mother was missing, yes, but she didn't need to lose her best friend on top of that.

Lloyd did his best to convince Ana that none of this was her fault, but he was terrible at comforting people, as awkward as he was. Teddy and Pippi tried too, but they were both obviously far too abrasive and tended to annoy Ana more than help. Carol, Minnie, and Mimmie all told her how nothing could have been done to save him, but Ana couldn't stop feeling intense guilt every time she saw the family Ninten left behind.

Of course, Ana knew she was being irrational. She knew everything had been out of her control and was entirely the fault of King P and his army, yet her dark thoughts persisted.

For the past month now, Ana had been religiously checking the newsstands around Podunk, dutifully telling Ninten's family anything relevant to his whereabouts (which unfortunately had been next to nothing until recently). Since Ninten's capture, Ana had been living with Carol, Minnie, and Mimmie, staying in their guest room. Lloyd and Teddy had helped her safely gather her belongings from her home in Snowman, still bare and abandoned. Her mother had never been found.

Everyone tried to understand what Ana was going through, so they gave her the space she needed. It was difficult losing your home, mother, and closest friend all at once, and the only person who could possibly understand the extent of what she was going through was Teddy.

She missed Ninten. She missed her mother. More than anything, she missed the way things used to be before the Pigmask Army had ever shown up. Things were only going to get worse too, weren't they? It's what Ninten always used to tell her, after all. If no one had stopped them yet, then it was likely no one was ever going to. The Pigmasks were far too powerful now.

Ana crumpled the newspaper up in her hands, squeezing her eyes closed in an attempt to stop herself from crying. A few stray tears rolled down her cheeks, but she wasn't sobbing yet. Using the sleeve of her sweater, Ana wiped the tears from her face and took a deep breath.

There was no use sitting here and crying. She wasn't helping anyone this way.

Thinking back to a month ago, just before Ninten had been captured, Ana remembered something. The trick King P had played to lure the rebel leader out of hiding came to her, and she thought of where the newspaper that morning had said the Pigmasks thought the rebel kid had been: Chommo.

It likely didn't mean anything. It had all been a ploy to capture the kid where they thought he actually was—that being America—but every now and then she would remember that place.

Chommo.

It stuck with her, more than anywhere else did, and she often wondered why. It wasn't as though she knew anything about that particular region. It wasn't like the Pigmasks had actually thought the kid they were looking for was there.

Maybe Ana just needed to get out and do something. Maybe she needed to move on.


	8. Riding the Train to Better Days

Ninten had finally had an asthma attack for the first time in over a month, and he found himself incredibly disappointed. He'd thought for certain that whatever modifications Dr. Andonuts made to him had taken care of that. Either all of it had been a massive case of dumb luck, or Dr. Andonuts had only mostly taken care of the issue. Whatever the answer was, Ninten was not happy about it.

"And here I thought I'd be asthma-free the rest of my life!" he complained, throwing his hands up in the air. Claus sat beside him and nodded blankly in response, Ninten knowing that the commander didn't care whatsoever. "The one good thing to come out of this, and it's not actually a thing!"

The attack had been intense, and Ninten had been unable to do anything about it thanks to not having an inhaler on him. Claus had tried to help him through it at the time (the mere thought of which, had Ninten not been dying, would have sent him into a massive laughing fit). He remembered awkward pats to the back while the commander hovered beside him, and Ninten had wanted so badly to tell him I'm not choking; it's an asthma attack, you dork!

Things had worked out. Ninten managed to get his breath back, and he had immediately gone to Dr. Andonuts to figure something out. Bizarrely enough, Dr. Andonuts had practically waved him away to some other scientist and then run off, baffling Ninten at the time, but things were fine. Or as fine as they could be

Ninten sat on a train with Claus now, heading over to the Murasaki District of New Pork Metropolis. The main chimera lab was situated over there, and the two were to assist Dr. Andonuts as he worked to create stronger chimeras for the army. The doctor had had enough time to have someone get Ninten a new inhaler before he had been transferred over there, and Ninten clutched it angrily in his fist now as their train sped through the underground tunnels of New Pork.

"Why do we have to go over to this lab anyways? The Doc's already been over there on his own for a few days now," Ninten continued, nowhere near finished with his complaining.

"We are to capture stronger specimens for him to experiment on. Master Porky feels that his current chimeras are becoming obsolete," Claus responded, unfazed by his bodyguard's ire.

"Oh, lovely! So we're making Porky stronger!" Ninten groaned, smacking his head against the window and staring hard at the tunnels speeding by.

"Wouldn't we want to make him stronger?"

Ninten gave him a pointed look, wishing Claus wasn't wearing that stupid helmet for once so he could see his face better. Not that the commander ever emoted enough for it to matter, but if Ninten made just the right comments to him… "I mean, for your health, no."

Claus gave a brief frown, pondering the statement for a moment. He'd been doing that a lot lately, and Ninten had been relishing in it. It wasn't much, but it was still a far cry from how he had been a month ago. Rarely could Ninten get the chimera to make any sort of expression or consider anything negative about Porky, but now he was slowly making headway.

He'd noticed it way back during his first couple of days in the army. Claus tended to have moments where the brainwashing would slip ever-so-slightly, and his personality would be prone to showing itself, even if only for a few seconds.

He had shown sadness when Ninten said he couldn't bring him back to his mother. He'd shown annoyance when Ninten reminded him that he was still human. Shown disappointment in the loss of his favorite pair of boots. Curiosity in the face of calling Dr. Andonuts 'Father'. These reactions would come out, but then be gone the very next day. It felt as though whenever Ninten made any sort of leeway with Claus' brainwashing, it would immediately be reversed, making Ninten feel like he hadn't made any actual progress at all.

The emotions were still there, but they were so buried beneath the brainwashing that Ninten was sure he had missed other vital moments during their time together. There was a person in there somewhere, and Ninten figured he must be slowly digging him out despite the constant setbacks.

Dr. Andonuts had finally begun helping Ninten out in his cause. The man was now giving out tips and tricks for Claus' specific kind of brainwashing, telling Ninten about the commander's different ticks and how to work around them. He even mentioned something interesting about the two's PSI bond, something Ninten vaguely remembered Porky telling him about so long ago.

"Your part of the bond pushes you to watch over the commander and work towards whatever is best for him, but it works both ways! The commander is more inclined to listen to you if you give reason for how you're helping him," was what he had told Ninten, and he had been testing that ever since.

For instance, saying Porky getting stronger wasn't good for Claus' own health and safety? It made the chimera pause and think just now. Dr. Andonuts hadn't been lying, and Ninten soaked up any piece of information he could get from the man now that he was finally giving it out.

"How could Master Porky getting stronger be bad for my health?" Claus questioned after a moment longer, confusion marring his tone.

"Well, he already hurts you enough as it is. Plus, if he's saying he needs stronger chimeras because the current ones are obsolete, then isn't that kind of referring to you? You're supposedly his strongest, after all."

"Actually," Claus interjected, "the Ultimate Chimera is Master Porky's strongest chimera, I am merely—"

"The Ultimate Chimera got lost on the bathroom floor last year and no one's bothered with it since!" Ninten interrupted him. "At least, that's what Dr. Andonuts told me."

(In fact, Dr. Andonuts' exact words had been: "Two of the monkeys Colonel Richards captured broke free and released the Ultimate Chimera from our lab in the Murasaki District—although I think it was still called Murasaki Woods at the time. When no one could recapture it, it eventually escaped here to the Empire Porky Building and has been hanging out in the All-You-Can-Pee Toilet Dungeon ever since! We've been letting it sit there for almost a year now!" and honestly, Ninten didn't want to touch any of the absurdities in that statement with a ten-foot pole.)

"You're the strongest usable chimera, and I think Porky's trying to find a way to replace you," Ninten told him, though he doubted his own statement. Porky wouldn't have forced Ninten into being Claus' bodyguard if he was planning on getting rid of him so soon.

The commander was silent a moment before turning his head towards Ninten. "If that is the case, then it would be justified. I have disappointed Master Porky more than enough times in the past."

"For an emotionless killing machine, you sure have horribly low self-esteem. You don't deserve anything that Porky has done to you," he huffed. Knowing he had brought their conversation in the wrong direction, Ninten tried to backtrack and amend his previous statements. "Listen, you're too valuable for him to replace. I've seen what you can do, even without your PSI powers. Porky would have a hell of a time finding someone else with abilities like that."

But the thing was, Ninten didn't know what to actually think. He'd been thinking about this particular issue a lot the past week or so, and he hadn't come up with an answer yet. The reasoning he had just given to Claus was sound (Ninten didn't even know something like PK Love existed until recently, but it looked just as powerful as Ana's PK Beam), and he was certain replacing Claus for something even stronger would be next to impossible, but there were different things that made him doubt himself. After all, the commander had been stationed at the Empire Porky Building for over a month now, not doing much of anything. If Ninten didn't know better, it seemed like Porky wanted Claus close by on the Nowhere Islands rather than stationing him anywhere else, and he couldn't figure out why.

"Commander, we will be arriving at the Murasaki District station in about ten minutes!" a Pigmask soldier informed, saluting Claus and then turning to run back to another train compartment. Before leaving, he paused and then turned back to the two. "Oh, and uh, Captain! You might want to put your helmet on before we reach the subway! There might be people waiting to get on there!"

Ninten doubted it, as late and barren as it was, but he grumbled at the Pigmask soldier and waved him off anyways.

Taking one last look at his new inhaler, Ninten sighed and shoved it into his pants pocket. He was wearing the blue Pigmask uniform he had been supplied with back when that rebel girl started the riot outside New Pork's main streets, and it appeared he would be stuck with it for a while. He glared down at the Pigmask helmet he had thrown onto the floor.

"I hate this thing so much," he muttered, picking it up and setting it on his lap. "It smells horrible and I can barely even see anything out of it. Why couldn't I get a cool outfit like yours? I bet you can see out of your helmet."

Claus didn't respond, having gone into what Ninten had starting referring to as "serious commander mode". During times when it was just them together in private, or if the commander was out and about on his down time, then he was more approachable. He was more likely to answer Ninten's questions and hold conversations. When it came to military business though, the emotionless killing machine came out, and nothing Ninten tried had really been able to break him out of it yet.

This was the commander that the Pigmasks feared and admired; the one that coldly ran the army while taking out anyone that opposed them. Ninten had seen this side of the commander plenty of times already, it showing up whenever he addressed and briefed his subordinates, was in training, or out in public and showing the true power of the army off. Ninten hated this side of the commander more than he hated his own stupid, blue Pigmask helmet. This wasn't Claus, not in any way, shape, or form. It was the epitome of what Porky had turned him into.

"You don't need to act like that yet, man," Ninten muttered, knowing it would do no good. The commander would be like this for a long while yet. "We have ten minutes before we reach the station."

No response, as expected. The commander continued staring straight ahead, posture tense and rigid, as though he was ready to strike at any moment. Ninten wished there was something he could do to bring Claus back, but not even Dr. Andonuts was sure of how to help when he got like this. It was exactly what Porky had brainwashed him to be after all, and the doctor admitted that he was surprised Claus could still come through despite everything.

The train pulled into the Murasaki subway station and the doors opened up to let them off. Ninten and Claus had been the only two in their compartment, but Ninten saw a few other people getting off at other ends of the train, most of which were either Pigmask soldiers or homeless-looking people. These soldiers and people were replaced by a few others, and the train closed its doors and took back off. Ninten watched all of this happen with intense apathy, annoyed that his helmet now covered his expression so other people couldn't see it. He wanted people to see just how much he was done with this situation.

The commander turned and pushed past the few Pigmask soldiers saluting him, heading on his way out of the station. The soldiers tittered and gushed over their commander, some stumbling back in order to give him his space. It was disturbing in some ways, but Ninten had already seen the same scene more than enough times at the Empire Porky Building to care. Having nothing better to do, he followed the commander, the same soldiers not paying him even close to the same amount of attention.

The only places he had been to before now were the Empire Porky Building and the main streets of New Pork, so this would be a new experience for him. As the two left the station, Ninten noticed that there were fewer skyscrapers and more open land. It was still a heavily industrialized area, but also a breath of fresh air compared to the main streets. They walked past a few factories and a gondola leading up to someplace called Club Tittiboo (a name which, Ninten hates to admit, made him laugh despite his current annoyance. Apparently Ana had been right whenever she used to say Ninten was still immature), and soon they reached a larger, more intricate building with heavy security and fencing. There were areas being added onto the place, with construction people busy at work.

Well, if it wasn't the Chimera Lab, then Ninten would be genuinely shocked.

The guards outside the doorway were talking when the two approached, and they gave half-assed salutes before realizing who had just shown up. At that point they jumped back, spluttering about Oh, Commander! I'm so sorry!, and Commander! It's great to see you, sir!, and Ninten had to physically hold back a groan. It was late, he'd had a bad day, and at this point he just wanted to go to bed. These guys were not helping.

Thankfully, the commander barely acknowledged them, giving a quick "Get back to work," and walking right by. They entered the building together and reached a reception area. The commander apparently knew right where to go, as he set off down the numerous corridors of the lab. Following behind him was easy enough, but Ninten knew he'd need help finding his way around if they were going to stay there for much longer.

As they continued on, they went through an area that must have been recently added on during the current renovation project, and it immediately sent chills down Ninten's spine. There, a long stretch of tubes were lined up on both sides of the hallways, filled with a dark green substance and holding people and animals within them. Déjà vu hit, and it hit hard. It almost resembled the nausea he would feel when the commander was in trouble, and it gave him an instant migraine.

He shut his eyes and put a hand to his head, wanting to lean against one of the tubes for support, but being too afraid to even go near one of them. There were so many. He'd seen something like this before, he knew it, and it all had something to do with Giegue… and then he lost whatever memory had been trying to play in his head.

The migraine was still there, making him woozy and unwilling to open his eyes, but when he did, the tubes merely filled him with great discomfort. They looked so familiar, yet Ninten knew he had never seen anything like them before. Why had he been so certain that they had to do with his great-uncle? Sure, Giegue had been a vengeful alien, but Ninten's great-grandparents had adopted him and changed his ways by caring for him. He'd even shared his peoples' knowledge of PSI with his great-grandpa George! His mother loved telling his great-uncle's story to him and his sisters. Giegue couldn't possibly have anything to do with this.

("Your power feels like that almighty idiot's...are you familiar with an alien named Giygas?")

Ninten shook that memory from his head, glancing around and realizing that the commander had left him behind. Annoyed, tired, and now suffering from a migraine, Ninten muttered angrily at himself and started following the PSI bond so he could catch back up.

As he neared the end of the long hallway, he happened to glance at the occupant of one of the tubes. There inside it, looking peaceful and at rest, was a woman Ninten had completely forgotten about. The migraine worsened immediately, and cold dread settled in his stomach.

Inside the tube was Ana's mother.


	9. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Ninten didn't sleep that night. He didn't sleep that often in the first place, his insomnia having only worsened since he was forced into the army, but usually he could at least get a couple hours in. There had been no way he was getting even a wink that night, though. He couldn't stop thinking about Ana's mother, floating lifelessly in whatever that tube was filled with.

After finding Ana's mom, Ninten had rushed to the commander to ask him if they were seeing Dr. Andonuts that night. The answer had been no, and they instead went to the temporary quarters they had been given for their stay at the Chimera Lab. Claus was too deep into commander mode to acquiesce to Ninten's request for visiting Dr. Andonuts, and the PSI bond wasn't going to give him the time to wander around looking for him. He'd been forced to wait until morning, and it had been an agonizing six hours.

When he and Claus found and greeted Dr. Andonuts that morning, Ninten had been too exhausted to process what his two allies were talking about. Something about chimeras around the Murasaki District and other parts of the metropolis. When they had finished their conversation, Claus had ushered Ninten out of the lab entirely and then they were both out subduing random chimeras in the area.

Ninten discovered what a horsantula was that morning. He had been lazing about, watching Claus do all of the work, and heard some hissing neigh sound from behind him. Had Claus the capacity to process humor, Ninten knew the asshole would have been laughing his ass off over his bodyguard's reaction. Running over to your commander while screaming your head off was not the most dignified thing someone could do, but the horsantula was by far the most terrifying chimera he had seen to date. Claus—Ninten swore he would defy the PSI bond and punch him one day—just stood there and watched it happen. Hadn't even lifted a finger to try and help.

To be fair, he might have deserved it for letting Claus do all of the work earlier, and Ninten was the bodyguard after all, but _still_.

They returned to Dr. Andonuts later that afternoon, and Ninten's first instinct had been to cuss the old man out for creating such a horrifying thing.

"My son loves spiders, though!" Dr. Andonuts replied in the face of Ninten's wrath. "Or, at least I think he still does. He did when he was little, at least!"

"It's an abomination!" Ninten yelled, pointing at the knocked out horsantula sitting in a large cage. He had eventually worked up the nerve to smack the thing with his baseball bat earlier. Claus had obviously had no intentions of helping out.

"Couldn't you say that about all of the chimeras?" Dr. Andonuts mused.

"I can accept those, as messed up as they are. I really don't like that thing."

"Well, you can't blame me for everything! I'm just one of many scientists working for Porky. I don't make every single chimera you see running around!"

"You're the head scientist, and you've pretty much already admitted to making horsantulas."

Claus stood off to the side by other cages full of chimeras, blankly watching the conversation. Eventually he must have decided that it had gone on long enough, speaking up and interrupting the two. "Dr. Andonuts, what else can we assist you with? Master Porky would like me to brief his troops over by the ruined Thunder Tower today."

"Watch it, Freckles," Ninten responded. "Keep it up and I might accuse you of being impatient."

Claus gave a brief frown, but kept his attention on Dr. Andonuts.

"It's called efficiency," he replied, showing the barest hint of annoyance. "Dr. Andonuts, I need a response."

Dr. Andonuts gave a strained smile, glancing between the two boys. "Of course, Commander. I don't need anything else from you today. I expect I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Acknowledged. We will be leaving for Thunder Tower now."

Claus left the room after that, leaving Ninten and Dr. Andonuts behind. Ninten had no desire to leave the lab and watch Claus play around with his troops for the rest of the day, so he tried to stay behind for as long as the PSI bond would let him. Turning to face Dr. Andonuts, Ninten readied himself. There wasn't much time before he had to go follow Claus, so he needed to get right to the point.

"Oh, Ninten, good," Dr. Andonuts started before Ninten could say anything. "I was hoping you would stay behind for a bit. I have something I need to discuss with you."

"What are those tubes full of green stuff over by the residential area of the lab?" Ninten asked instead. Whatever Dr. Andonuts needed to say could wait. Information about Ana's mother could not.

Dr. Andonuts faltered, stumbling over his words for a moment. "You must be talking about the Nice Person Hot Springs," he eventually replied, recovering and then getting a bunch of his equipment in order. "That's what Porky uses to brainwash people. Even just a few hours in there is enough for someone to start groveling at his feet. They all used to be located in the Empire Porky Building, but since the Chimera Lab has been expanded so much lately, many more were made over here, too. Now, I really have something important we need to talk about…"

"What's in those things? How do they work?"

"I don't know," Dr. Andonuts shrugged, showing some aggravation at being repeatedly interrupted. Ninten was about to call bullshit, but the doctor continued on. "I didn't make them, after all. There are scientists in charge of running them, but none of us know exactly how they work. Porky already had them when we all joined the army. Now, is there a point to this, or can I go on with what I need to say?"

It wasn't a satisfactory answer, but Ninten got the impression that Dr. Andonuts wasn't lying about this. The man was more than willing to answer Ninten's questions truthfully now, and he couldn't imagine why he would start lying again over something like this.

The nausea was coming in now, and Ninten knew he didn't have much time left for this. He needed to hurry with those answers.

"I know someone in one of those tubes. She's my best friend's mom, from Snowman over in America. We were looking for her the day I was captured. Why is she still in one of those tubes when you said people only need to be in there for a few hours?"

This finally got Dr. Andonuts interested in the conversation, and he hummed to himself, putting a hand to his chin in thought. The man looked genuinely confused, and Ninten was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He had relied heavily on Dr. Andonuts up until this point, and it was unusual for him to not have an answer for something. What could possibly be going on with Ana's mother?

"I don't know. If she was captured the same time you were, then Porky's had her for a month. I…" he trailed off, face suddenly going pale. "Oh, well, Porky did say he had plans for all of those people captured in that one American city. Maybe it has something to do with that?"

"What exactly are those plans? And which city?" Ninten asked, but before Dr. Andonuts could answer, the door to their lab opened.

Ninten turned to see who it was, and saw Claus standing there, holding his helmet and jacket in his arms and looking paler than usual. The boy looked faint, swaying where he stood.

"Clau—er, Commander?" Ninten asked, the PSI bond acting at full force upon seeing him. He walked over and put a hand to Claus' shoulder, hissing and backing off when he felt how hot the mechanical arm was.

"I'm not feeling well," was all Claus said, hugging his helmet and jacket tighter. It looked like he would pass out at any moment.

"Hold on, hold on, I got you!" Ninten fussed, genuine worry pushing him to act far more than the PSI bond did. He used PK Healing in hopes it would help, but there was hardly any noticeable effect. "Damn, I'm sorry! What's going on?" he questioned, even as he tried PK Healing Beta.

"Is he overheating?" Dr. Andonuts asked, approaching the two.

"Yeah, I can't even touch his arm without burning myself," Ninten responded, panicking slightly. None of his healing PSI were doing anything, so he tried PK Lifeup instead. The burns the machinery was leaving on Claus' skin were healed, but his systems continued to overheat, burning the skin all over again.

"Shit," Dr. Andonuts swore, making Ninten pause and glance over his shoulder at him. Dr. Andonuts _never_ swore. Just how bad was this? "Get him over to the examination table, hurry!"

"Right, right!" Ninten responded, grabbing Claus around the waist and pulling him over to the table. Claus dropped his helmet and jacket as Ninten took the reigns, appearing to not even notice their loss. Ninten tried his best to avoid touching any mechanical parts, but they still burned, even through the commander's clothing.

They laid Claus down on the examination table, Dr. Andonuts grabbing tools off the shelves and rushing back over. He tried to place a hand on Claus' head, but pulled it away immediately from the heat.

"Ninten, do you know PK Freeze?" the doctor asked, breathless. "We need to cool him down immediately."

"Even if I did know any offensive PSI, that PSI block thing in my head wouldn't let me use it," Ninten ground out, worriedly looking over Claus as he attempted PK Lifeup once more.

"Well, I could always disable the PSI block, but you don't know _any _offensive PSI?"

"No, I don't!" And since when could the PSI block be disabled? Why hadn't Dr. Andonuts said anything about it until now, when the situation was too dire for Ninten to call him out on it?

Dr. Andonuts huffed out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, fine. I need you to run over to the lab a few doors down and tell the group there what's going on. Tell them it's an emergency and that Dr. Andonuts needs them!"

"Right, right! I'll be right back!" Ninten stammered out, running from their lab and going to get help.

Claus had overheated before, but it had never been quite this bad. Even after Porky had blasted his leg off so long ago his overheating hadn't been this extreme. Just what was going on? He hated having to leave Claus like this, both because of the PSI bond affecting him so heavily and because there just had to be _something_ he could do, but Dr. Andonuts appeared to know what the issue was. Right now, he supposed that all he could do was get those other scientists and hope that they solved the problem soon enough.

* * *

Claus awoke later that night, laying in a bare hospital bed in a room far too cold for someone to be sleeping in. Ninten sat at his bedside wrapped in a heavy blanket, both thrilled and worried about this development.

"Hey, man," he sighed out when Claus glanced his way. "You nearly overheated to death. Scared the shit out of me and Doc Andonuts."

"Where am I?" Claus mumbled out, looking far too tired to be awake.

"We're in the Chimera Lab's medical area. Dr. Andonuts brought you here once he got you stabilized. We've been keeping it really cold to help your systems. You're not too cold, are you?"

Claus stared at him uncomprehendingly, giving Ninten a slight inkling of worry. The chimera glanced around the room with his good eye, since the mechanical one had been powered down along with the rest of his cybernetic limbs to prevent further overheating.

"I don't…" Claus trailed off, sounding almost baffled. His voice was hoarse, and Ninten could tell his throat must be horribly dry. "I, um—where's Lucas?"

At first Ninten had no idea who Claus was talking about, but he eventually managed to remember. "Oh, you mean that boy running the rebel group in this city? I don't know. What about him?"

"He's my, uh…" he trailed off again, suddenly spacing out, eye glazing over.

Ninten gave him a moment, but it became clear Claus wasn't going to continue on anytime soon. He put a hand to his shoulder, lightly shaking him to get his attention back.

"Claus?" he asked, immediately berating himself for using Claus' name instead of his title. He and Dr. Andonuts had agreed that it was safer to avoid telling him his name until they could break through his brainwashing and gain more trust. Only, Claus did something now that Ninten hadn't been expecting.

"That's me, right?"

There was silence a moment, as Ninten didn't immediately process what Claus had said.

"E-Excuse me?" he stumbled once it hit him. "Yeah! Yeah, that's you. You're Claus!"

"Sounds weird," Claus mumbled, then closed his eye and drifted back off to sleep.

Ninten wanted to shake him again to wake him back up, _needed _to, but he stopped himself. The PSI bond had decided that more rest was good for him, and Ninten had a hard time arguing with that. Unfortunately, he had been getting somewhere with Claus! The kid hadn't been able to break through his brainwashing like this since Ninten first met him, and even then he had been practically unreachable. His brainwashing would only revert once Claus woke back up, Ninten knew it would, and he wanted to get as much information as he could before that happened. That stupid PSI bond and his own morality were becoming problems.

Some more time passed in which Ninten passed out while resting his head and arms on the bed. It was Claus who woke him up much later, human arm shaking Ninten's shoulder. Ninten grumbled as he awoke, feeling pain in his now stiff neck and dead arms.

"Captain?" he heard Claus question. "Could you get me some water?"

The PSI bond had Ninten up and on his feet, body protesting the sudden change in position. Still waking up and a little ticked that the PSI bond could force his actions like that, Ninten hobbled over to the sink and poured a glass of water. He suspected he'd be pouring a lot more than just one glass that night—or morning, now that he looked at the clock. Had he really been out for so long?

"Here," Ninten murmured, setting the cup on the bedside table and helping Claus to sit up. It was a bit awkward since the chimera really only had full use of one arm, and Ninten hoped his mechanical parts would be powered back up soon. "Now be careful with this. Don't need you spilling water all over yourself and getting rusty or something stupid like that," he continued, now putting the glass in Claus' left hand.

They sat in comfortable silence as Claus sucked down the water he'd been given. Predictably, he wanted more the moment he was done, and Ninten dutifully got him another glass.

"Did Dr. Andonuts say why I got all messed up?" Claus asked after some time had passed, setting his empty cup back on the bedside table.

The way he phrased it was more casual than how he usually spoke, but Ninten was so used to Claus reverting back to commander mode after being injured and repaired that he didn't question it for too long. Probably just a weird slip in the brainwashing.

"It was our PSI bond," Ninten replied. "He told me about it after we got you resting in this room. Apparently he'd been worried that this would happen, because of how the robotic half of your body is always being fixed or upgraded. He said the machinery messes with your PSI powers, so over time the PSI bond might get all weird and extreme because of that."

"So, it's because I left you behind with Dr. Andonuts yesterday?"

"Probably," Ninten shrugged. Claus had a bad habit of always leaving Ninten behind when he was too slow or loitered somewhere, but Ninten never realized that the commander's PSI bond punished him for their separation, too. "I mean, did you start feeling sick before or after that?"

"After. I made it down the hall before I started feeling too warm."

"Right. Well, I guess Dr. Andonuts adjusted the bond to match your current PSI energy, so that issue shouldn't happen again," Ninten paused. "At least not until your energy changes from the chimera reconstruction stuff again."

They remained silent again for some time after that, Ninten not really sure what else to say. It was difficult enough to hold a conversation with Claus when he was feeling well. He figured he would just wait until Dr. Andonuts showed up before coming up with anything else, except Claus seemed weirdly talkative that morning.

"Both you and Dr. Andonuts called me Claus yesterday."

Ninten felt his stomach turn to ice, fear filling every thought in his head. Claus remembered that? Usually he didn't remember much of anything from the times he managed to break through his brainwashing! Okay, think Ninten! Don't panic, just play it off!

"Dr. Andonuts called you Claus?" Ninten asked, too panicked to even fake a smile. "Why would he do that? And when?"

Claus gave him a tired stare, though he appeared a bit confused himself. "I woke up when he finished repairing me, and he took me by the arms and said he had a lot of important things to tell me. He said that my name is Claus and that I wasn't going to the hot springs like I usually do after I get repaired. Told me that I'm not supposed to be like this, and he needed to tell me now because he had to go. I guess you weren't listening to him earlier, so he had to tell me instead."

Hot springs? Dr. Andonuts needing to go? What was going on? Ninten could feel his arms shaking now, and his foot began to tap repeatedly on the ground. Maybe he should have listened to Dr. Andonuts after all instead of interrupting him to learn about Ana's mother. What could have possibly driven Dr. Andonuts to entrust this information with Claus?

"Where—Where is he going? Back to the Empire Porky Building? I mean, we just got here, didn't we?" His voice was shaky, too. Oh boy. Claus was dropping too many bombshells on him.

"I don't know. He just told me to stay away from the hot springs. Said they're doing something wrong with my head."

The Nice Person Hot Springs? Was that what Claus was talking about?

"You still go in the Nice Person Hot Springs?"

"Yes. Every time I need to be repaired or am feeling, feeling…" Claus stumbled over his words, apparently uncertain of how to describe just what he would be feeling. "Feeling something. I'm not supposed to feel anything, but Dr. Andonuts said that's not right."

And holy hell, didn't that explain practically everything? Claus' lapses whenever he was injured, then coming out of the repairs as the commander again. Showing even the slightest amount of emotion one day and then having it suddenly disappear the next.

What it didn't explain was why those lapses happened in the first place. Claus' brainwashing was supposed to be Porky's most powerful, unbreakable form of mind control at his disposal. Claus shouldn't have been lapsing often enough for him to need the Nice Person Hot Springs anymore, right? This whole time, Ninten had just assumed the lapses were all because of his own efforts. Had he not been doing anything to break Claus' brainwashing after all?

Dr. Andonuts had been hiding something big from him, something he had wanted to tell Ninten about the other day. He hadn't come as clean as Ninten originally thought he had, and really, Ninten should have known better, but he'd hoped he could trust him. What changed to make Dr. Andonuts reveal all of this to Claus? Where was he going now?

Ninten found that he didn't want to know the answers to those questions.


	10. A Letter Addressed to You

A few hours passed before Ninten came to the conclusion that no one would be coming to help power Claus' systems back up, so he left in search of one of the scientists who had helped Dr. Andonuts with him the day before. They returned and got Claus back up on his feet, and then the two left the scientist behind in favor of returning to their quarters. The scientist had been confused, wondering why Dr. Andonuts hadn't shown up to help them instead, but Ninten shushed Claus and waved the scientist off.

It appeared that he and Claus were the only two who knew of the doctor's disappearance, as everyone else in the labs conducted their research without any care in the world. Ninten still had a difficult time believing that Dr. Andonuts had left them so abruptly, and he searched through every room and lab they passed on their way back to the residential area. No sign of him whatsoever.

When they passed the Nice Person Hot Springs, Claus stared at them in wonder—likely thinking about the warning Dr. Andonuts had given him—and Ninten had to grab his arm and usher him along.

When Ninten looked in a specific tube near the end of the hall, he found it empty. He should have felt horror or unease at the fact that Ana's mother had suddenly disappeared, but he was overtaken by apathy. Dr. Andonuts had left to god knows where for unknown reasons. Ana's mother was missing once again. Most of what he knew about Claus' brainwashing had been a giant lie. Ninten didn't know what to think, and thus resorted to his usual depressive apathy.

They reached their room and sat on their respective beds. There was no way Ninten should be sitting still, not when his only ally was gone; not when Claus was beginning to act more like an actual person. And yet, he just couldn't think. Couldn't think of a damn thing to help him comprehend this situation. Perhaps all he could do right now was absolutely nothing.

Almost eight days passed before word eventually got out that Dr. Andonuts was missing. His absence took far too long for anyone to notice, but people started finding it suspicious after over a week.

"Dr. Andonuts always locks himself up in a lab for days on end, we just figured that's what was going on. But, I mean, he's not _anywhere_," a random scientist mentioned when Claus had been ordered to interrogate everyone at the Chimera Lab.

Porky had sent a whole squadron of soldiers to search the entire metropolis and locate the missing doctor. No one said anything, but they all suspected Dr. Andonuts hadn't been kidnapped or killed; they knew the man had taken his chance to run away and escape. When he talked about it with Claus later, Ninten was told that Porky always knew Dr. Andonuts wasn't as cooperative as he let on. Apparently a majority of the army had known.

Surprisingly enough, Claus hadn't given anything away to Porky. Ninten had listened in on their calls, hearing the fury in the Pig King's voice and the dead monotone Claus usually only managed while in commander mode. Turning out to be a shockingly convincing liar, Claus was adamant that both he and Ninten knew nothing, though this didn't mean Ninten trusted him one hundred percent, yet. He found himself fearful of Claus reverting back to the commander and telling Porky everything about Dr. Andonuts. Hoping against hope, Ninten could only trust that the doctor knew what he was doing when he told everything to Claus.

Claus' insistence of both his and Ninten's innocence was effective for now. That wasn't to say Porky had completely absolved them—more specifically, Ninten—of blame in the situation. Ninten and Claus were forced to remain in the Chimera Lab, rather than join the others hunting Dr. Andonuts down. The colonels who were in charge of the search would update their findings with Claus when Ninten wasn't around, but it didn't take much to get the chimera to open up and tell him everything anyways.

As far as any of the Pigmask soldiers were concerned, it almost seemed like Dr. Andonuts had dropped off the face of the planet. They couldn't find hide nor hair of the old man, making Ninten wonder how he could have escaped so successfully.

_If you could get away so easily like this, why didn't you try it before? Why didn't you bring me and Claus?_

Ninten just didn't understand, and all of the sitting around—anxiously waiting to hear if the semi-brainwashed commander would revert back to being fully-brainwashed and get Ninten in major trouble—was doing nothing to help his depression.

While they spent most of their time around the labs, they were currently lounging in their quarters. Apparently Claus had an impatient streak in him, as he was currently pacing around the room. This was something he had never done before, but Ninten wasn't too surprised about it. There had been comments made here and there that gave it away in the past, along with the numerous occasions where he had left Ninten behind somewhere. Missing his trip to the Nice Person Hot Springs just made Claus' impatience worse. No big deal.

Huffing a soft sigh, Ninten decided they needed to at least do something. Sitting up on his bed, he swung his legs over onto the floor and rested his arms on them.

"What kind of PSI do you know?" he asked, though that didn't stop the incessant pacing. Claus gave a confused hum, the only sign that he had heard him. "I was thinking about how my PSI block thing works. King Pig Face said it stops me from using offensive and teleport-related PSI, but what about something like debuffs? Like PK Defense Down or PK Hypnosis?"

Claus finally stopped his pacing, standing before Ninten and giving him the typical creepy, blank chimera stare. The helmet should have made it more menacing, but Ninten found that not being able to see the mechanical eye did a lot to lessen the creepy factor.

"I never knew your PSI was being blocked," Claus finally said.

Ninten groaned and hung his head down. "Oh great, so I'm not the only one Dr. Andonuts wasn't telling anything to." He looked up and stared back at Claus. "It doesn't really matter since I've never learned any offensive PSI, but it also stops me from using PK Teleport."

"Oh," was all Claus said, either not seeing the point of the conversation or not caring.

"I don't know, can we go find a chimera so I can try to lower its defenses? I've just been curious, and we have nothing better to do anyways."

"Master Porky would like us to remain within the Chimera Labs until Dr. Andonuts is found or they give up the search. You can wait until then."

"'I can wait until then'," Ninten mimicked in a mocking tone. "You're one to talk! You've been pacing around all day waiting to do something. Let's just go to Doc Andonuts' lab and try to put the stupid horsantula to sleep."

Claus stood there a moment longer, dead silent, and Ninten thought for sure he would deny his request. Just when he was about to groan and flop back onto the bed, the chimera finally spoke.

"Okay. Let's go."

Either Ninten was going crazy, or Claus actually sounded a little excited about the idea. Smiling to himself, Ninten rose off his bed. The brainwashing really wasn't as strong as most people assumed it was once the secret visits to the Nice Person Hot Spring were stopped, was it?

* * *

Not even an hour later saw the two back in their quarters, Ninten nearly passed out in his bed. They found out that he could in fact use at least one of his assist PSI, but, well…

"I can't believe I used PK Hypnosis _once_ and got a PSI fever. I'm so done with all of this," he muttered as Claus hovered nearby.

"Is this what the PSI block is supposed to do?" he questioned.

"Last time I checked, no," Ninten moaned in response, wishing that Claus would go sit down and ignore him like he always did before all of this Dr. Andonuts business got out of control. "Listen, I want to sleep this PSI fever off, so could you please just leave me alone right now?"

It was silent, and Ninten peeked an eye open to look at Claus. The chimera had a faint frown on his face, but quickly schooled it back into a neutral expression. Huffing a sigh, Claus turned and went to go over a stack of reports sitting on his own bed.

Ninten felt a little bad pushing Claus away when he was starting to open up more, but he'd never handled PSI fevers well. Usually only Ana and his mom would try to check on him whenever the fevers came on, since Ninten was known to get a bit snappy when he wasn't feeling well.

Holding back a groan, Ninten turned to lay on his stomach, arm hanging down between the bed and the wall it was against. It was an uncomfortable position, but he doubted any position he laid in would be all too comfy while his fever was raging on. He continued to lay there trying his damnedest to fall asleep, hearing the faint shuffling of paper over on Claus' end of the room.

When he started to get too uncomfortable and warm, Ninten tried to move and adjust his position, but the hand he had hanging over the edge of the bed knocked something aside. Curious as to what sort of years old junk was hiding between the bed and the wall, he felt around until he found it once more and lifted it up. By then he had fully rolled onto his side to face the wall, and he gave a quick peek over his shoulder to check on Claus. The chimera was still looking over his paperwork, and Ninten turned his attention back to the item he found.

It was a folded up piece of paper, sealed with tape and bearing his name upon it in messy ink. When he opened it, he found that it was a letter, handwritten in small, nearly illegible chicken scratch. His eyes were drawn to the bottom where the letter was signed, "_Good luck, from Dr. Andonuts_," and he felt anxiety well up inside him. This letter must hold the answers he and Claus had been looking for. The lighting was dim and the handwriting difficult to read, but he knew he needed to read it immediately.

_Ninten,_

_I'm sorry that we had to part ways like this, but I couldn't find the time to let you know before all of this happened. This letter is for your eyes and your eyes only. Do whatever you need to dispose of it once you're done. Burn it, shred it, whatever, but make sure no one gets their hands on it. I hid this in the only place I could think of where you would be most likely to find it first, and I pray you find it at all._

_I've done you a great wrong, Ninten, and I can never apologize enough for that. I'm sure Claus has told you by now what I warned him about. There was no time, and I needed to tell someone something before I took off. I've been in contact with the Tazmily rebels and the Mr. Saturns from Saturn Valley. One of the rebels got word from an inside source that Porky has sent some of his men to Foggy Land in order to find my son Jeff. I don't know if Porky has caught on to us and is looking to kill Jeff, or if he's trying to capture him and use him against me, but I can't allow it to happen. The Mr. Saturns planned to aid my escape the night I ran, and I have since left to Foggy Land to protect my son._

_Please understand that I would have taken you if I could, but there was no time and too many questions to be answered. Claus is still a liability as well, and I couldn't risk bringing him along. I've done what I can to help you two out, though. If Claus has told you everything, then yes, I have been secretly putting him in the Nice Person Hot Springs whenever his brainwashing begins to falter. The brainwashing was broken before. I don't know when or how, but it's difficult to keep someone brainwashed when it's already been broken once, even with something as extreme as what Claus has suffered from. Porky ordered me to keep up with the hot springs whenever he showed any sign of emotion because of this. If it isn't kept up, he's likely to lose the brainwashing completely._

_I should have told you this before. I never should have led you on and gave you hope of breaking the brainwashing, but I was afraid. Still afraid Porky would see that I wasn't doing my job and not keeping the brainwashing up. It's fragile, incredibly fragile, and it can be broken if you just keep Claus away from those hot springs. With my leaving now, this unfortunately might be far more difficult to accomplish. I'm sure Porky will realize that no one is working the hot springs for him, and he'll assign the new head of chimera research to take over for me._

_Whatever you do, now is the time to take your role as Claus' bodyguard seriously. Protect him. Stop him from needing to be repaired. And for god's sake, try and instill in him that he needs to hide his emotions from the rest of the army. If anyone catches wind of what's going on, any progress you've made will be for nothing. Keep him out of the hot springs long enough to gain more trust in him, and maybe then you two can get away from this place for good._

_Don't try anything just yet, not while the army is still looking for me and my absence is fresh in Porky's mind. You'll be a suspect for a while, and I'm sorry if I've troubled you by giving some of this information to Claus. Porky will keep a close eye on you. Keep that in mind when you attempt your escape and be careful. I don't think I could handle if you were to end up like Claus because I wasn't there to help you._

_Keep your priorities straight. Start planning now, and if possible, get in contact with the Tazmily rebels._

_Good luck, from Dr. Andonuts._

Ninten laid the letter down upon his bed after reading it, thoughts blank. The letter managed to explain everything and yet nothing at all. He should have figured it had something to do with Dr. Andonuts' son. Should have known that Dr. Andonuts' fear of Porky would drive him to keep going behind Ninten's back. That didn't mean Ninten was happy about it, but he at least understood now.

If the man was being truly honest for once in his life, then Ninten had a hard road ahead of him. Claus was still susceptible to having his brainwashing enforced, and there would be nothing he nor Ninten could do to stop it without incriminating themselves. They were both stuck here as long as Claus was likely to return to Porky. Even now, Ninten didn't know if he could completely trust Claus, and Dr. Andonuts' warning rang fresh in his mind. Porky would be keeping a close eye on them both until this all died down, and who knew how long that would be. After all, Porky was persistent enough to chase after a rebel boy for nearly six years straight, so why wouldn't he be protective of his favorite chimera?

Hate and anger flooded through Ninten at that thought, and now more than ever he found himself upset that Dr. Andonuts had up and left them. The doctor could have done more. He could have at least tried to stop Claus' brainwashing sooner if he knew he had to leave.

It didn't matter though, Ninten told himself. He could get by without the old man, and didn't need to rely on him like he did so often this past month or so. Resilience and independence had always been in his nature, and he could do just fine with only Claus. Things would go better now that he knew about the secret hot springs trips. Dr. Andonuts was unnecessary and unwanted.

Turning the letter over, Ninten caught a final message on the back of the paper. The letter had been folded in such a way that he didn't see it before he opened it, but now he took the time to read Dr. Andonuts' final message to him.

When he finished reading the small phrase, he felt his resolve slowly shatter. Finally, something besides anger broke through his apathy, and he tried to hold back a shuddering sob. There was no reason to cry over a man he had only known for a month, but that last message somehow managed to bring the whole situation crashing down on him. When he felt the first tears run down his face, that was when the dam broke. No matter how hard he tried to hold the sobbing back, it kept coming.

Dr. Andonuts had been all he had throughout this entire shitty situation. Sure, he wasn't the greatest person in the world, but he was still a good man who did what he thought was necessary to protect his son. Despite the horrible situation Ninten had been forced into, he had never truly felt alone as long as Dr. Andonuts was there to rely on. The man had known everything. He'd given Ninten the hope he needed, as false as it might have been. Ninten didn't have that support anymore, and for the first time since he was captured and forced into the Pigmask Army, he found himself breaking down.

Most of the night saw Ninten, sick from PSI fever, curled up and sobbing in his bed. Claus sat across the room, knowing something was wrong but unable to process how to help.

_P.S. Ninten, I won't do the cliché thing and say that I grew to love you as my own, but I do care for you nevertheless. You're a good kid, and you don't deserve anything Porky and I have done to you. You're strong, and I can tell you'll go far if you put your mind to it. I'm sorry to leave you alone like this, I know it was a selfish move on my part. I hope you can grow to trust and rely on Claus as much as you did with me so you at least have someone. I won't forget about you, Ninten. Know that when you escape from Porky, you'll always have a place to hide with me and my son. Be good. Take care. And again, I'm so sorry for everything._


	11. And the Years Go By

Exactly one year had passed since Ninten had been captured by the Pigmask Army. Once a little over another month went by, it would mark the day Ana ran away shortly before her mother made her mysterious return.

Lloyd felt like all of his friends had disappeared in the span of a single night that year, and it left him feeling more and more despondent each day. Nearly all of his time was spent in the basement of his parents' home in Podunk, working listlessly on multiple different projects and experiments. His parents were troubled, and even Ninten's mom and sisters worried about him. Their families had grown close since Lloyd moved there from Merrysville, and all too often he found Minnie and Mimmie bugging him in his pseudo-basement lab whenever their mom was visiting with his parents.

Lloyd was never sure how to interact with them. Social situations weren't his strong point, and he'd never even really made a friend in his life until Ninten found and stood up for him at Merrysville Elementary so many years ago. Lloyd felt comfortable with Ninten like he only did when he was with his parents, and fully considered Ninten to be his brother. The same could be said for Ana. She was like a sister to him, and he'd always relished in the drama of her on- and off-again relationship with Ninten, as silly as it all was. They both showed him how to be more open. More kind and adventurous. Without them, he felt like he'd lost a part of himself.

Sure, there was Teddy, but he and Lloyd never got along all too well. In fact, it was really only Ninten and, unsurprisingly, Pippi who could be remotely considered friends with the B.B. Gang's leader. As for Pippi herself, Lloyd hadn't even known who she was before moving to Podunk, and he still found that he barely knew her. She was a childhood friend of Ninten's who enjoyed playing baseball and running around graveyards, but her abrasiveness had only truly endeared her to Teddy.

So really, Lloyd was certain that he had lost the only friends he would ever make.

Teddy still visited Podunk occasionally, making sure the Pigmask Army wasn't trying to make any moves on the town. He and Lloyd had thought for certain that the Pigmasks would try to attack Podunk now that they knew the Eagleland rebel kid wasn't there, but the town remained untouched. It truly baffled both of them, especially now that a few other towns—including Merrysvillle—had been invaded.

Their confusion had only furthered when Ana's mother reappeared back in Snowman mere days after Ana herself had run away. Ninten's family had seen the note Ana left telling them she was leaving to Chommo. She apologized for everything, said her goodbyes, but never explained how she was going to make it to a completely different region. There wasn't any proof, but they all suspected she left for reasons having to do with Ninten. Lloyd often wondered what would have happened if she had just stayed a few days longer.

Ana's mother was suffering from one of the most severe cases of brainwashing Teddy said he had ever seen, coming off as nearly brain dead. Lloyd couldn't bear to stay around her when he and Teddy first went to check up on the situation. She had sat blankly on a couch, not quite staring at her Happy Box but somewhere near it. No response was given when either Lloyd or Teddy tried to speak with her, and Lloyd remembered feeling thankful that Ana hadn't been around to see her mother like that.

There were some times where Lloyd considered following after Ana and going to Chommo, but he didn't think he'd be able to make the journey by himself. Teddy wasn't likely to help, as he was far too invested in Ellay's situation and stopping the Pigmasks' spread. Lloyd imagined that Pippi would only tell his parents if he tried to get her to help out. He was eighteen now, and he could feasibly do whatever he wanted without being stopped by his parents, but he didn't know if he could do that to them. If they got wind of his thoughts, they would beg him to stay, and who was he to worry them so much?

So Lloyd remained in Podunk, continuing to hide in his basement while occasionally going out to check on Ana's mother in Snowman. He didn't think the woman was capable of taking care of herself anymore, and he felt like he owed it to Ana to help her mother out.

The Pigmasks continued their spread, slowly taking over America, and Lloyd wondered how much longer it would be before the whole region was finally lost. Teddy was doing his absolute best, but any hope Lloyd might have had left along with Ninten and Ana. Podunk was safe for now, but already Lloyd was working on different inventions to protect himself and his family once the inevitable happened. It didn't feel like much, but at the moment it was the only thing he felt capable of doing anymore.

* * *

Two years had passed since Porky supposedly captured Ness and stopped his 'reign of terror'. Ness and Paula had long since left Winters, realizing that they could no longer remain at their safe haven. They had tried to stay as long as they could after the weird incident with the Pigmask inspectors, but then something even more unexpected had happened.

A strange old man had shown up at Jeff and Tony's apartment, frazzled and out of breath, and Tony had grabbed Ness and Paula from their shelter to tell them the news. The two came out of hiding and saw the man standing nervously by the doorway. When his eyes landed on Ness, they filled with deep sadness and shame, making Ness far more nervous than he had been before.

"Hello," the man had spoken, voice soft and somewhat tentative. "I'm Dr. Andonuts. You must be Ness, correct?"

And things had quickly spiraled out of control from there. The man claimed he had been forced to work for Porky in return for Jeff's safety, but something had compromised that. Dr. Andonuts had escaped with the help of some rebels in Nowhere and the Mr. Saturns, and he was there to bring Jeff into hiding with him. Winters was no longer safe. Porky's men were already looking to apprehend Jeff there.

At first Ness was wary about trusting the man, knowing that he had worked for Porky and having heard what Jeff thought of the whole thing, but then he remembered the earlier incidents: The Pigmask inspectors had been looking for Jeff, and Tony seemed more than willing to trust the old man. There hadn't been much time to consider it, as Dr. Andonuts was stressing that they needed to find Jeff and get out of Winters immediately.

Jeff had been back at Snow Wood Boarding School's library reading, and it had taken everyone's combined efforts to get him to cooperate. He hadn't been too thrilled with seeing his estranged father once more, and their interaction hadn't been the heartwarming reunion one might expect between father and son, but eventually Tony had been able to break through to him. Jeff begrudgingly decided to give his father a chance once the seriousness of the situation began to sink in.

It had been decided that Ness and Paula would follow Dr. Andonuts and Jeff to hide out in Chommo, the region with the least amount of Pigmask activity aside from America. It was agreed that they shouldn't be hiding out in the region where Porky initially thought Ness had been, so America had been out of the question.

Tony stayed behind in Winters, hoping that he would be able to throw the Pigmask inspectors and any other soldiers who showed up off their trail. This plan had immediately been disputed by Jeff, who couldn't bear to put Tony in any potential danger like that, but as usual Tony was able to convince him to go on. The Pigmasks weren't looking for Tony after all, and as long as he continued to act as though he was brainwashed like he and Jeff always had, they would have no reason to harm him.

So Ness, Paula, and Jeff reluctantly left Tony behind and followed Dr. Andonuts all the way to Chommo. By now, they had spent nearly two years there, hiding out in Dalaam and being aided by its crown prince Poo. It was through the combined efforts of both Paula and Poo that they had met up, Poo through his spiritual training, and Paula through her unique psychic abilities (which was what Poo referred to them as. Ness agreed that it sounded a lot better and made more sense than 'random, weird cryptic nonsense').

Both Dr. Andonuts and Jeff appeared wary for their own different reasons—Jeff worried about Tony, and Dr. Andonuts likely worried about being found by the Pigmasks. Two years since their arrival in Dalaam and the two still hadn't truly calmed down.

Jeff wanted so badly to get in contact with Tony, but they all knew it was too risky. There were too many different ways their messages could be intercepted, incriminating both parties and putting them in more unnecessary danger. As a way to cope, Jeff spent more and more time inventing numerous contraptions, sometimes isolating himself to the point where either Ness, Paula, or Poo would need to drag him out and force him to get some fresh air. If there was one good thing to come of this all, it was that Jeff had at least managed to become close with their newest ally. In the time they had known each other, Jeff had managed to open up to Poo more than he ever did with Ness or Paula.

Dr. Andonuts suffered similarly to his son, often appearing worried or even guilt-ridden as he went about his days. He didn't open up to anyone like Jeff did to Poo. He didn't tell anyone what was eating away at him, though Paula once mentioned to Ness that she suspected there was more to it than just guilt over joining the Pigmasks. Ness wasn't sure what to think, but the man would disappear for days on end in his designated lab area, and no one really bothered to drag him out like they did Jeff. It was mostly a trust issue, as Jeff still wasn't overly fond of his father's actions, and to some extent it made everyone else wary.

Ness often felt bad for the old man, but he never quite knew how he should approach the issue. It wasn't like he and Paula were around that often anyways. The past two years had been a wake-up call for them, between finding out that Jeff was in danger with or without them hanging around, and hearing about what Dr. Andonuts had gone through, they couldn't sit compliantly in hiding anymore.

They were careful, of course, but they were finally getting more active. Ness was beginning to feel more alive as he and Paula (and often times Poo and Jeff) started fighting against Pigmask activity in Chommo. Things weren't as dire as they were in Eagleland, and any worries of protecting the people they were hiding with were squashed. The people they loved and cared about were in danger no matter what Ness and Paula did, and sitting around hiding from the issue was helping no one.

Paula had high hopes for them. She said that the Chosen Four had finally come together, and from there things would begin to fall into place for them. They had even met a girl named Ana who had traveled to Chommo from America, with whom Paula was beginning to bond with. Anytime they managed to get Jeff, Poo, and even Ana with them on their raids to Pigmask bases and labs, Paula showed more energy and excitement during their battles, and it filled Ness with his own sort of hope.

He trusted Paula with everything he had, and as odd as many of her comments and actions sometimes were, she had never let him down. Maybe, just maybe, the five of them could start making a difference. Chommo was merely one step in the right direction, and who knew? Maybe taking one region back would be enough to get the ball rolling, and all the dominos would begin to fall from there.

Standing on the edge of a cliffside just outside of Dalaam Palace, Ness looked over at Paula and took her hand in his. When she returned his look and gave him her typical confident smile, Ness couldn't help but grin right back.

Everything would turn out okay. That's all he needed to believe right now.

* * *

In a few days, it would be exactly three years since the confusion over the Terror of Onett's capture in New Pork Metropolis. That time felt so long ago to Lucas now, and he often worried about the lack of progress he, Duster, and Kumatora had been making since then.

They had originally made plans to locate and rescue the boy forced into being the Masked Man's bodyguard back then, but the disastrous Dr. Andonuts situation had complicated matters far too much.

When they'd last invaded the Empire Porky Building three years ago, Duster had gotten some news concerning Dr. Andonuts' son, and they knew something eventually had to be done. Dr. Andonuts had been a longtime ally of theirs—had been ever since the Ultimate Chimera fiasco back when the Murasaki District was still a forest, really. He was a secretive man, dutifully serving under King P to keep his son safe, but he would let certain secrets slip through the cracks. It was often regarding which scientists and soldiers were trustworthy to the Tazmily rebels' cause, and he was usually their go-to for directions if they could get in contact with him.

When word got out about his transfer to the Murasaki District Chimera Lab, Lucas and his friends had seen the chance and made sure they got word out about King P sending soldiers to Winters in search of his son. If there was even the slightest chance they could help him like he had them so many times, then they would take it.

The man's escape had gone smoothly, the Mr. Saturns having been shockingly helpful, but it was the aftermath that had caused so many problems. Pigmask soldiers had been everywhere, scouring every inch of the Nowhere Islands, including the Tazmily slums. No place had been even remotely safe for nearly a year after Dr. Andonuts' escape, and Lucas and the gang had resorted to hiding out on Tanetane Island, the only place the Pigmasks wouldn't touch.

They didn't talk about their time on Tanetane Island. As far as any of them were concerned, it never happened.

Once the chaos of Dr. Andonuts' disappearance had died down, they moved back to their hideout in the slums, finding it ransacked and nearly destroyed. Lucas was ashamed to admit he broke down crying then and there. He had tried to hold the tears back since he wasn't supposed to be a crybaby anymore, but when Duster and Kumatora had hugged him and told him to let go, he couldn't help it.

They put their home back together, slowly but surely, and they got back on their feet. Then Boney had died a little under a year later, and Lucas was certain he had cried harder than he ever had before. Boney had been all he had left of his family, Lucas having not seen Flint or Alec for far too many years. In Boney's old age it had been inevitable, but Lucas had been in mourning for a long time. Duster and Kumatora were a godsend, because he didn't know what might have happened if he had to deal with anymore loss all alone. Even still, he missed Boney so, so much.

Often times, Lucas found his thoughts drifting back to the family he had lost, and he would begin to tear up. Usually he would quickly wipe his tears away and compose himself before either Duster or Kumatora noticed, but sometimes it was difficult. He loved Kumatora and Duster and appreciated everything they'd done for him, but he knew he would trade everything just to have his family back.

Unfortunately, nothing could be done to get them back, and Lucas' only remaining relatives existed in Flint and Grandpa Alec, whose locations were a complete mystery. He knew he needed to move on and get some work done, and that was what he and his friends were there to discuss that day.

A few days until the three year anniversary of the 'Terror of Onett's' capture, and they were finally ready to enact a plan to rescue the guy and get him out of King P's clutches. It would be difficult, the kid having been a Pigmask Captain for a few years now, and who knew how brainwashed he might be. They needed to take their chances though, and do what they could to break it. This man was powerful and competent, and they were guessing he would have important information regarding the army and King P's plans moving onwards.

The Masked Man was stationed at the Empire Porky Building. He had been ever since his bodyguard showed up, actually. It baffled Lucas that he wasn't being sent out to other regions and helping out the army overseas anymore, but Kumatora always pointed out how convenient it made their situation. As long as the Masked Man was forced to stay in New Pork Metropolis, the higher Lucas and his friends' chances were to snatch his bodyguard off of him.

"What about capturing the Masked Man, too? I mean, if he isn't brainwashed too then I would be genuinely shocked," Kumatora once asked, receiving twin looks of in incredulity from Lucas and Duster. Sure, they were all powerful enough individually, but the commander was _stronger_, and they didn't even know if they'd be able to keep ahold of the captain, let alone the Masked Man. They didn't exactly know what they were dealing with, and they would hold out on the Masked Man until they got the situation with the captain figured out first.

"Let's just take this all step-by-step," Duster had suggested, and there hadn't been much more discussion about it since then.

Their current plan included a whole slew of non-brainwashed people from around the island, including some of the Pigmask scientists and soldiers who had helped them out in the past. The plan would go as usual, with Kumatora manning the distractions on the city main streets, Duster infiltrating the Empire Porky Building, and Lucas acting as a lookout. The only difference would be that they would have others such as Lighter and Fuel to cause problems all around the island. Nothing major enough to get the Masked Man sent to check it out, but enough to notify the army at the Empire Porky Building.

Some of the mostly-defected soldiers had already agreed to help Duster steal a colonel's uniform and bring him to the Masked Man's bodyguard so that he could be safely lured out. They would make some excuse about how Lucas was sneaking around down in the sewers and needed to be taken out immediately. Once the signal was given, Kumatora would then arrive to sneak attack the captain with either PK Hypnosis or PK Paralysis.

It wasn't the greatest plan in the world, but they had plenty of people on their side, which gave Lucas hope that they might have a chance of succeeding. His only regret was that with the amount of people who were in on this plan, someone was bound to be hurt or captured. If there was any way they could enact this without those repercussions Lucas would do it in a heartbeat, but the situation was too precarious. Kidnapping the Masked Man's bodyguard straight from the Empire Porky Building was practically suicide, but maybe things would work out.

Lucas took a look at the other people sitting with him, Kumatora, and Duster. He recognized faces such as Fuel's and Nana's, Lighter's and Bronson's. There were more who he was certain he had never seen in his life, but they swore they were on his side. So Lucas took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then began to relay the details out to everyone.

The plan would begin that very night, and for all they knew it might change everything.

* * *

**A/N:** Please take note of the three year time-skip. I don't know if I made it clear or not that one happened. Here's everyone's ages by the end of this chapter in case anyone's keeping track:

Kumatora, Teddy, Duster - 25, 27, 29

Ness, Jeff, Poo, Ninten - 21

Lloyd, Ana, Paula - 20

Lucas, Claus - 19


	12. The Great Escape Pt 1

**Warning**: There is one section of this chapter that discusses suicidal thoughts and ideation. The chapter doesn't linger on it for too long, but I wanted to give a warning for anyone this subject might trigger.

* * *

Around the end of his first year as a member of the Pigmask Army, Ninten had decided to give a random date for Claus' birthday.

When Ninten had turned nineteen a couple months before then, Claus had shown curiosity in his solitary celebration. "You never had a birthday before?" Ninten had asked, to which Claus had merely given him an unimpressed look as if to say, 'what do _you_ think the answer to that is?'

Admittedly, Ninten should have figured as much, but he decided to give Claus a random birthday anyways. Thus, they celebrated Claus' seventh birthday in a monumentally boring occasion, Ninten having stolen some of the higher quality food from Beauty and Tasty and given it to him as a present. Claus had stared at it blankly as though unsure of what to do with such things, and the day had only gotten more awkward from there. The celebration for his eighth birthday never happened, since it had coincided with a fresh, unpreventable trip to the Nice Person Hot Springs for Claus. Ninten had been furious that day when he found out what had happened.

In a few days, they would be celebrating Claus' nineteenth birthday. Kind of a huge leap from eight-years-old to nineteen, but when the brainwashed chimera suddenly remembers the actual age he was when he was reconstructed, you start going with that.

("Captain? I think I remember something from before," Claus had brought up out of nowhere.

It was a few months before and they had just finished celebrating Ninten's twenty-first birthday. The day had started with Ninten walking into their shared quarters and then screaming and slamming the door shut because a horsantula was sitting on his bed.

He found out shortly later that Claus had left it for him as a birthday present from a note attached to one of its legs reading: _Happy Birthday, Ness. I saved the horsantula we captured for Dr. Andonuts and tamed it for you. I hope you enjoy your new pet. : )_

There were so many things purposefully wrong with the note, and Ninten had been pissed with his roommate. The little shit had only known him for three years, spending a majority of that time mostly brainwashed, and he still knew how to get on Ninten's nerves far too well.

To be fair, Ninten was to blame for teaching him the passive-aggressive smiley face trick, but he never thought Claus would actually _use_ it.

He'd given Claus hell once the chimera had finished his orders for the day, and Ninten was sure anyone could have heard him from down the hall. It hadn't lasted long though once he caught Claus' expression. The asshole knew what he did, and despite the lingering remnants of commander mode from the day, Claus was smiling bright. Ninten saw that, and he couldn't bring himself to yell anymore. Claus rarely smiled, and while Ninten had yet to hear him laugh, he knew Claus was as close as he'd ever come to since being brainwashed. It was actually kind of cute, and made Ninten feel better about the infuriating situation in an instant.

"My name's not Ness and you fucking know it," he'd ended his tirade with a quick laugh, smiling back at Claus. "But thanks for the thought."

Claus' smile had turned into a grin, and they continued their celebration by releasing the horsantula into the All-You-Can-Pee Toilet Dungeon and eating cake in their quarters. The day had ended with Claus' statement that he remembered something, and Ninten had responded accordingly.

"You told me not even an hour ago you knew what my name was, so why am I suddenly 'Captain' again?"

"Right. Ninten," Claus amended, looking uncertain of himself. "I, um, I think I know how old I was when I was reconstructed."

Ninten stared at him for a moment, mouth hanging open just a bit. "You're kidding, right? You've never remembered anything from then!"

"Yeah, but…" Claus trailed off. His eye glazed over for a moment, but he shook himself out of it. "I was ten. I remember having a tenth birthday."

He couldn't remember anything besides that one detail, but they chose to go with it nevertheless.)

Claus had been ten back then, and in a few days now he would be turning not nine, but nineteen. Ninten had already come up with the perfect gift for him, too. There unfortunately wouldn't be any payback for Claus' horrible gag gift a few months ago, but Ninten was already thrilled about it.

It would be their escape from Porky's clutches after all, so Claus would have no choice but to love it.

The plan had been in motion for the past three years, with Ninten doing everything he could to work around the loss of Dr. Andonuts and its aftermath. The man hadn't been kidding when he said Ninten and Claus had a difficult road ahead of them, and Ninten had been stuck on Porky's radar for ages afterwards. The first goal had been to build up as much trust as he feasibly could with the pig king. Obviously, complete trust was unobtainable, but he needed enough to at least get Porky off his back.

Porky was one part of Ninten's issues, but Claus was the true major problem. Keeping him out of the Nice Person Hot Springs was one of the most difficult things Ninten had ever had to do. If Claus showed even the slightest hint of emotion or resistance in public, it was an instant trip to the hot springs. Anytime his mechanical parts malfunctioned or needed to be repaired, he was put into the hot springs right afterwards. This happened far too frequently, no matter how hard Ninten worked to protect him.

Claus, as emotionless as he was supposed to be brainwashed as, emoted very heavily. Once he was able to feel emotions, he felt them far too strongly. It had been a surprise the first time Ninten realized it, but Claus was prone to giving off these intense emotions and mood swings even around other Pigmask members. The guy was an amazing actor, and he could fake being an emotionless killing machine even when he wasn't stuck in commander mode, but he would still slip up occasionally. A soldier or scientist would make some horrible comment, and Claus would let his anger show. The army's reaction the first time it happened had been hysterical, no one knowing how to deal with being yelled at by their fearsome commander. Ninten would still laugh about it, even though it always resulted in a trip to the hot springs, thus resetting any of their progress.

Anger and irritation aside, Claus was also visibly depressed. Sure, Ninten was depressed too, but Claus showed it in vastly different ways. Where Ninten was apathetic and unmotivated, Claus would often be found anxious and upset.

"I'm supposed to be the strong one, not a crybaby," he once murmured while sobbing into Ninten's shoulder. Ninten hadn't really known what he meant at the time, but he understood enough to know how much Claus hated it whenever he started crying.

Their PSI bond hadn't helped things in the slightest, the bond having gotten more than messed up over the years since Dr. Andonuts left. As Ninten had grown older, Claus taught him some offensive PSI, and his abilities had developed. In return, Ninten had taught Claus a few handy recovery PSI, which only amplified when the mechanical half of his body was repaired or upgraded. There had been no incidents like the one back at the Chimera Lab, but Claus still had many issues with the bond.

The replacement head of chimera research—a pompous middle-aged man named Dr. Halstrom—knew nothing about the PSI bond, Dr. Andonuts having the forethought to steal any information about it possible. It was annoying not being able to get Claus' end of the PSI bond fixed, but Ninten knew why the old man did it. They didn't need anyone tinkering with Dr. Andonuts' own sabotages and ruining their chances of escape. So in the meantime, Ninten and Claus did everything they could to not set off the bond's punishments.

Claus spent a good portion of his time glued to his bodyguard's side, considering how the bond now affected him far more than it ever did Ninten. So anytime Claus was mad, or excited, or sobbing his eyes out, Ninten was there to see it. He was there to see it, and he often found himself deathly afraid that Claus would kill himself one day.

It was the comments he made, and the times he would stare at either his arm cannon or sword in deep contemplation. He would say something about how he shouldn't be alive; how he had been with his mother in death, and would trail off while looking at any lethal part of his body or weaponry. It made Ninten more than a little wary, and he unfortunately had no idea what to do about it.

Sure, Ninten had had some similar thoughts in the past, thinking about how it would be better if he simply didn't exist, or how if he died that day he would be okay with it. There had never been any obvious signs of these ideations though, and he never voiced them to anyone, not wanting them to worry or overreact about the issue. Claus seemed like he was ready to die at any moment. He would contemplate killing himself so hard that Ninten could almost hear his intentions from a mile away.

Celebrations aside, this was one of the main reasons why Ninten wanted to get them out of there by Claus' birthday. It was the perfect opportunity, with Ninten having everything already set up and planned out. Claus hadn't been in the Nice Person Hot Springs in a few months, slowly getting a better handle on hiding his emotions, and Ninten needed to get them out before one of those trips did happen. Claus wasn't going to survive if he stayed there any longer, and Ninten didn't even want to consider what might happen to himself if Claus took his own life. His only friend and companion throughout these three hellish years would be gone, and with him, the only thing standing between Ninten being brainwashed and reconstructed by Porky. They needed to leave no matter what.

Currently, Ninten was sitting in one of the Empire Porky Building's training rooms, watching Claus practice some of his newer recovery and assist PSI. Though Ninten had finally learned his own offensive PSI (Claus had of course taken the liberty of teaching him PK Thunder right away), it wasn't as though Ninten could use or practice it, not with the PSI block in his head. Well, technically that wasn't entirely accurate. Dr. Andonuts had been a sneaky old man, and Ninten was certain that either the man hadn't made the perfect PSI block, or he managed to sabotage that, too.

The PSI block was weakening, and while Ninten still struggled to use offensive PSI without feeling the repercussions, he could at least successfully use them. The same could not be said for his teleportation PSI, which was still primarily blocked, but he felt more and more successful in using 4th D-Slip every day he attempted it (he once tried to teach Claus PK Teleport in hopes of making their lives a lot easier, but it had been next to hopeless to get him to learn it). Now, of course, was not the time to try anything, being in a public training room, so he sat back and gave Claus advice on how to better his newly learned recovery and assist PSI.

"You're aware you still suck at PK Lifeup, right?" Ninten asked, giving his best piece of advice yet.

Considering the fact that Claus wasn't wearing his helmet at the moment, Ninten could read his expressions far too clearly. Claus gave him an unimpressed look, shooting a small, offhanded PK Thunder Ninten's way in an attempt to startle him. Ninten was used to these displays though, and didn't even flinch when a quick burst of lightning struck the floor near him.

"Neat trick, but you really do need to work on your aim more," Ninten deadpanned, trying to hold back his grin.

"You're not exactly helping, Captain," Claus grumbled back, trying to hide the annoyance in the tone of his voice. It was still clear as day on his face, of course. As good an actor as he was, Claus had to rely heavily on his helmet to keep his emotions truly hidden.

Ninten placed a hand dramatically to his chest and mock gasped, giving Claus an offended look. "You always call me Captain when you're pissed off. Why do you have to hurt my feelings like that?"

"I'm starting to think you don't have any feelings," Claus grumbled back.

Ninten let loose a bark of laughter at that, receiving yet another unimpressed look from Claus. "God, you're such a grouch when _you_ have feelings," he laughed. "Getting all frustrated because you can't use any Lifeup PSI stronger than alpha. You sure you don't still have the mentality of a ten-year-old?"

Claus' annoyed look dropped in favor of contemplativeness, a soft frown on his face. At once Ninten hoped he hadn't made a mistake in saying what he did. He and Claus had taken to riffing on each other whenever they could, but Ninten still had a difficult time telling what might set Claus' depression or commander mode off.

"I mean, I might. I haven't been myself since I was ten," Claus responded after a moment of staring worriedly down at himself. "You always tell me my head's all messed up, so maybe."

Standing up from his spot on the ground, Ninten walked over and put a hand to Claus' shoulder. Now not only did he feel bad, but the PSI bond had decided to start acting up as well. He didn't mean to worry Claus like this.

"Listen," he started, making sure Claus was looking at him, "even if that was true, you'd still be a hell of a lot more mature than any ten-year-old I've ever met. And yeah, your head's still all messed up, but we're working on that, and you're getting better." When Claus brought his gaze back to the ground, Ninten huffed a quick sigh. "You'll get even better once we get out of this place. Just hold on for a few more days. We'll get through this, okay?"

"Yeah," Claus murmured before giving off a sigh of his own.

A sad smile touched Ninten's face as he pulled Claus in for a hug. He'd found out over the years that Claus responded particularly well to touch when he wasn't completely brainwashed, and so Ninten resorted to hugs and other kinds of physical comfort whenever he could. Outside of being repaired and reconstructed, Ninten doubted Claus had been shown any such affection and was a bit touch starved. Predictably, the chimera relaxed and returned the hug, laying his head on Ninten's shoulder.

Knowing they couldn't remain that way for very long—a Pigmask soldier could walk into their training room at any moment—Ninten moved back and tried to give Claus a confident smile.

"So, want to watch me struggle to use PK Shield Killer? I'll let you make fun of me all you want."

A small smile made its way onto Claus' face, and he nodded at Ninten. "I think Shield Killer's a bit more complicated than Lifeup Beta, but sure. I'd never turn down making fun of you."

"Okay, yeah, it's kinda sad that you can't get Lifeup Beta right, but hey! You still get to watch a PSI master struggle with something for once!" Ninten gloated, backing off and preparing to cast a PSI Shield on Claus so he could try to break it with Shield Killer.

Claus' smile quickly turned into a smirk as he waited for Ninten to start. "You're the furthest thing from a PSI master that I've ever seen."

"And how many PSI users have you actually met? I'm betting me and you are the only two you know about." Ninten used PSI Shield on Claus, then tried to focus on using PK Shield Killer while continuing their banter.

"Mr. Fassad was a PSI user, and I believe Master Porky has some special kind of PSI abilities. They're both way better at it than you are."

Ninten paused, losing his prepared Shield Killer in the process. He had figured Porky had some sort of PSI abilities already, but that other guy?

"Who the heck is Mr. Fassad? I've been here all this time and never heard of the guy."

"Be glad you never met him, he…" Claus trailed off, staring at Ninten in sudden confusion. "He…he um. Sorry. I, uh, I don't know who Mr. Fassad is?"

If it had been anyone else, Ninten would have called bullshit and told them to stop hiding whatever it was they didn't want to talk about. Things were different with Claus though, him being a particularly special case, and Ninten could see the genuinely baffled expression on his face.

"You trying to pull up some old memory?" Ninten asked. This had happened before, with Claus managing to pull up repressed memories out of nowhere and then immediately forgetting them. It was part of the reason why he had been so shocked Claus had managed to hold onto the tenth birthday detail. "Maybe this guy was some evil babysitter you had," Ninten snorted.

"I don't know," Claus replied, eyes glancing off to the side in deep thought. When his human eye glazed over in his most obvious sign of dissociation, Ninten was about to call his name out, but Claus shook it off. Bringing his attention back to Ninten, he continued. "Let's try that Shield Killer PSI again."

"Sure thing," Ninten responded, not bothering to get too worried about the random memory.

They trained together for not even an hour before the door to the room opened and a Pigmask General marched inside.

"Commander, Captain!" the man began, saluting Claus who had immediately shifted into commander mode. "Master Porky said he needs to see you two in the throne room immediately!"

"Noted," Claus said in dead monotone. "Inform Master Porky that we will arrive as soon as we can. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir, Commander sir!" the general saluted again, hurriedly rushing out of the room while leaving the door open.

Claus stared at the doorway for a few moments before stiffly turning and walking towards the bench his helmet was laid upon. Without a word he placed the helmet back on his head and walked right out of the room. Normally, Ninten genuinely couldn't tell whenever Claus was actually in commander mode or just faking it, but this was one of those few times where he was pretty certain it wasn't an act.

Often times, Claus struggled with not reverting back to commander mode when he was faking it around other soldiers, and he'd admitted in the past that he hated having to pretend like that. He said he would always feel himself slipping back and making the act become real. At this point, Ninten believed that one of the reasons Claus showed his emotions so strongly was due to him being afraid of losing them. He didn't know or completely understand what Claus must be going through, but he knew he would also be horrified of losing his newly returned emotions after not having them for so many years.

Feeling the PSI bond act up within seconds of Claus leaving the room, Ninten ran out after him. Sure, he didn't want to give in to the bond's forced nausea, but mostly he was afraid of Claus accidentally hurting himself with overheating while he wandered off in commander mode. Their PSI bond was too volatile for situations like this, and Ninten couldn't afford to loiter around and be left behind by the commander anymore.

Catching up with Claus, Ninten walked beside him and tried to push his anxiety away. Brainwashing and PSI bonds aside, he was beginning to worry about what Porky could possibly want. The pig king never called Claus to meet with him unless he had important orders for him, or Claus was being punished for whatever reason. Ninten hoped to god Porky hadn't caught on to what he and Claus had been doing, because it would more than likely spell out their doom. He wanted to say they had been sneaky enough, and Claus had managed to hide his emotions well enough for it to not be suspicious, but Porky had caught on to Dr. Andonuts' deception easily, so why would Ninten and Claus' deception be any different? Preferably, Porky would have an important assignment he needed Claus to take care of, even if it meant Ninten needed to hold off on their escape attempt for a few days. It would throw a wrench in his plans, but it was at least something he could work around.

The elevator ride up to the hundredth floor was agonizing, Ninten's anxiety rising with every floor. By the time they reached the top, his foot was tapping rapidly on the ground, and he left the elevator as soon as he could just so he could get out of the suffocating space. As much as he didn't want to find out what Porky wanted, he knew it was better to get it done with as soon as possible, so he followed dutifully behind Claus as they entered the throne room.

The first thing he noticed was that Dr. Halstrom, the replacement head of chimera research, stood eerily off to the side, and Ninten did his best to ignore his presence.

The second thing was that the room was the same as Ninten had always remembered it, the area still dark and grimy, and at the far end of the room sat the Absolutely Safe Capsule that Porky hid himself in. That damnable robot stood in front of the capsule, though it held no sense of superiority or amusement as it so often did. It was enough to set Ninten's anxiety even more over the edge, and at once he found himself dreading the upcoming conversation. Nothing good could come of this.

The Porky robot stood in silence as the real Porky appeared to assess both Ninten and Claus with a grim expression. The silence dragged on, and Ninten resisted the urge to fidget.

"I have some news for you, slave," the robot eventually spoke, and Ninten let out the breath he had been holding in. This didn't sound too bad, at least not yet. Claus didn't respond, and so the Porky robot continued on. "Those slum rebels have gathered a large group of people and are wreaking havoc throughout the entire metropolis. I've been told it hasn't escalated too much yet, but it's still the largest rebellion we've seen in my army's history. So tell me, do you know why this is happening?"

Did Porky want them to go out and stop all of the rebels? That sounded fine enough, but Porky and his lookalike robot were giving off a far too darkened aura for that to be all it was.

"I do not know, Master Porky," Claus responded. The commander showed no hint of fear, and for once Ninten actually envied him for being able to shut his emotions down.

"You don't," the robo-Porky muttered, sending shivers down Ninten's spine. "Are you sure it doesn't have to do with the fact that you've continuously failed to capture or kill any of them, even though you've defeated them so many times already?"

Claus didn't respond, and Ninten knew why. He'd asked Claus about the issue before—about why he always let the Tazmily rebels go, but even when the brainwashing was at its weakest Claus had no answer for it. He genuinely had no idea why he always let them go, despite being in the throes of commander mode whenever he fought against them.

The commander knew better than to make poor excuses and false claims, and as always when this issue was brought up, he remained completely silent.

"All of this could have been prevented. Those scum should be gone and dead by now, but instead they're rallying others to cause mayhem through my whole metropolis! We could have peace right now if you weren't such a pathetic _failure_!" the Porky robot went on, its volume increasing the longer it spoke. Its human-like tone began to disappear, and what remained was a grating, robotic screech.

If he hadn't been paralyzed with fear, Ninten would have tried to cover his ears and dampen the noise, but he couldn't. Porky had never acted this way towards the commander, no matter how furious he was with him. The robot had never shortened out like this. Why had this been the incident to make him snap?

It was starting to become more difficult to breath, and Ninten could feel the tightness in his chest. He couldn't have an asthma attack, not now!

"My apologies, Master Porky," Claus replied, and Ninten was so tempted to just tell him to keep his mouth shut. "I shall make sure to apprehend them properly this time."

"No, you won't!" the robot screeched again. An almost unseen force shot forward and blasted Claus in the head, shattering his helmet and knocking him straight to the ground.

Claus released a heartrending scream when the blast hit him. He shouted in pain when he smashed his now-unprotected head off the ground, and Ninten's vision almost went entirely black as he was hit by intense nausea from the PSI bond. It took no time at all—he had no outlet to release the bond's punishments on, as his bond prevented him from attacking Porky—and he immediately puked up what little he had eaten that day.

Never, _never_ had he heard Claus scream before. He'd never heard Claus give any sort of implication that he could feel pain, so how was he feeling it now?

"Claus, _Claus,_" Ninten stammered through the PSI bond's blinding nausea.

Claus was still on the ground, clutching at his face and wheezing out pained moans. Ninten couldn't sit by and watch him suffer like that. He couldn't see the damage done, but he knew it needed to be fixed. Desperate to do anything, he crouched down and reached out to Claus, attempting PK Lifeup Gamma despite his better judgement.

Another blast appeared and struck Ninten in the shoulder, knocking him away from Claus before he could get his healing PSI off. The pain didn't register right away, but when it did white-hot agony shot through the entire left side of his body. His vision was swimming and he could barely see; wasn't even sure if he was screaming aloud or making no sound at all. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears and the sound of Claus sobbing nearby.

Ninten couldn't breathe anymore. The asthma attack was in full swing now, and he couldn't catch his breath. His panic continued to rise, and he felt his body going numb with shock.

"Worthless, the both of you," he heard a robotic voice speak. "Didn't think I would notice you both trying to defy me? Wouldn't notice some snot-nosed brat trying to break my favorite pet? I gave you both a chance, but I'm done with being merciful. Halstrom, you know what to do!"

More was said, but Ninten couldn't understand it. He felt someone grab him by his arms and start lifting him up, and he wanted so badly to scream. He wanted to scream in pain, scream over his situation, scream for Claus. No noise came out besides his hoarse attempts to breathe, and before he knew it he had blacked out completely.


End file.
